This Morning star says 'things need to happen' as they share Oscars concerns
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What went right this week: the good news that matters
The green economy defied sceptics, a river was granted rights, and ‘life changing’ therapy treated a rare blindness, plus more good news
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This week’s good news roundup
Immigrants and renewables supercharge Spain’s economyA decade after it was written off as an economic basket case, Spain has become the world’s best-performing rich economy, with renewables and immigration cited as leading drivers of growth.
Data shows that Spain’s GDP expanded by 3.2% last year, fuelled by cheap energy from its booming renewables sector. The country got 60% of its electricity from green sources in the first half of 2024 as it moved to reduce its reliance on gas.
Immigration – mainly from Latin American countries – also helped power up the Spanish economy, according to analysis by The Economist, as did tourism. The buoyant economic figures come despite Spain’s aging population and its pioneering wealth tax, which critics said would drive away investment.
It’s not all good news. Youth unemployment in Spain remains stubbornly high at 26% – the highest rate in the EU. Tourism and immigration are also fuelling a housing crisis in some regions, experts warn.
Image: Florian Wehde
UK’s net zero economy an ‘economic powerhouse’While right-leaning populists criticise the push towards net zero, fresh research shows that the UK’s green economy is booming – and the salaries are better, too.
Offering a reality check for climate sceptics, figures from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggest that the UK’s net zero sector grew by 10% in the last year – far outpacing the wider economy, which remained largely flat.
The sector pumped an estimated £28bn into the UK economy and supported 273,000 full-time jobs, the CBI said. Its research found for every £1 of value generated by the net zero economy, an additional £1.89 was created in the wider economy. Salaries for green jobs were found to be 15% higher than the UK average (£43,100 versus £37,430).
“The net zero economy has become a powerhouse of job creation and economic expansion,” said Isaac Gravener, an economist at the CBI. “[And] unlike some industries that cluster in major cities, the net zero economy is making waves across the entire UK.”
The CBI research echoed recent analysis of the Chinese economy, which showed that its clean energy sector supercharged the country’s economy in 2024.
Image: This Is Engineering
But when will this translate to lower energy bills?Despite the growth of its green economy, UK energy bills are set to rise again from April, with high gas prices blamed for the 6.4% increase.
The announced rise came as a new report by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) called on the UK government to cut emissions faster to lower bills.
Slashing emissions by 87% by 2040, it said, would cost £4bn per year, but would reduce the UK’s exposure to wholesale gas price spikes. It estimated that households would pay around £700 a year less on energy “by 2050” with the steeper emissions cuts.
Funding decarbonisation is a thorny issue, with critics highlighting the short-term costs as reason to ditch net zero. However, the CCC warned that failure to decarbonise exposed UK households to further gas price spikes caused by geopolitical turmoil. Energy bills in 2040 would be 15 times less sensitive to such shocks, it added, with the emissions cuts that it advocates.
“If you are an elected representative who is hostile to renewables, heat pumps, electric vehicles, what our numbers say is you are also hostile to your constituents saving £700 on their energy bills,” said CCC chief executive Emma Pinchbeck.
Image: Zaptec
‘Historic’ charter grants rights to English riverA river has become the first in England to be granted rights after councillors approved a “historic” charter to protect a cherished waterway in Sussex.
The charter recognises the River Ouse’s right to flow, to be free of pollution, and to have native biodiversity. It comes amid a water pollution crisis in England, where many rivers are being inundated with sewage.
“This is a historic moment for environmental protection in England,” said Emma Montlake, co-director of the Environmental Law Foundation. “By supporting the rights of rivers, Lewes district council has set a precedent that could transform the way we safeguard our rivers.”
Approving the charter is only the first step, though. The hard part will be implementing it. “This is just the beginning of a journey to give the river a voice and ensure its wellbeing for future generations to come,” said Montlake.
Image: Lemanieh
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‘Life changing’ therapy treats rare childhood blindnessFour children have gained “life-changing improvements” in sight following pioneering treatment at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
The children were born with a severe impairment to their sight due to a rare genetic deficiency, which means they can barely distinguish between night and day. The gene defect causes retinal cells to malfunction and die.
However, a new treatment was shown to make retinal cells work better and survive longer. The procedure, developed by scientists at University College London, involves injecting healthy copies of the gene into the retina.
In a trial, four children received the novel therapy in one eye only. All four saw “remarkable improvements” in the treated eye over the following three years, but lost sight in their untreated eye.
One of the children involved was Jace (pictured), from Connecticut, US. “After the operation, Jace was immediately spinning, dancing and making the nurses laugh,” said DJ, his mum. “He started to respond to the TV and phone within a few weeks of surgery and, within six months, could recognise and name his favourite cars from several metres away.”
Surgeons are now exploring how to make the treatment more widely available.
Image: Moorfields Eye Hospital (NHS)
Women now hold 43% of seats on FTSE boardsUK firms are leading the way for gender equality with women now occupying 43% of boardroom roles.
That’s according to the FTSE Women Leaders Review, which also showed that women hold 35% of leadership roles at firms listed on the FTSE 350 index.
Of the G7 nations, of which the UK is one, only France performs better for female representation with women occupying 45% of boardroom roles.
Vivienne Artz, CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said: “In an increasingly disruptive world, in which companies are faced with a combination of economic, geo-political and technological change, British businesses are setting an international standard for balanced and inclusive leadership. “
Image: CoWomen
Germany got hot for geothermal energyDrilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry could unlock abundant geothermal energy around the world – and a small German town has become a proving ground for the technology.
Residents in Geretsried, Bavaria, are set to be the first to benefit from the Canadian firm Eavor’s first commercial geothermal plant (pictured), which is expected to start producing energy in the first half of 2025. The town was the site of a previously failed attempt to tap into geothermal using now-outdated technology.
Holes up to 8,000 metres deep have already been drilled at the site, which will extract heat from rocks far below Earth’s surface. According to the International Energy Agency, advances in deep drilling technology have the potential to unlock geothermal energy’s potential almost everywhere.
“We want to have geothermal anywhere, everywhere,” Eavor CEO John Redfern told the Associated Press. “What better way to prove that than to put our first well where they tried and failed with traditional geothermal systems.”
Image: Eavor Europe
Organic sales strong despite cost of living squeezeThe UK’s appetite for pesticide-free produce is on the rise, despite the cost of living crisis.
A new report by the Soil Association showed that sales of organic produce increased in the UK by 7.3% in 2024, compared to 4.7% for non-organic produce.
The Soil Association said the figures were a further sign that people are voting with their wallets when it comes to sustainable farming, particularly “Gen Z shoppers, who are increasingly motivated by healthy and sustainable choices and seeking out organic products”.
Image: nrd
Discovery ‘opens door’ to new Parkinson’s treatmentScientists have identified a specific type of brain wave associated with anxiety in people with Parkinson’s disease.
The results, they said, “open the door” to use deep brain stimulation to relieve symptoms of anxiety in people with the progressive neurological condition. Deep brain stimulation is already used to treat physical symptoms, such as tremors, in people with Parkinson’s.
Dr Simon Little of the University of California San Francisco, who co-led the study, said: “Understanding the circuits and brain signals of anxiety is important for developing new personalised therapies for this disabling symptom.”
Image: Rollz International
University to launch UK’s first climate justice degreeLitigation has emerged as a vital tool for driving climate progress and holding polluters to account. So, the UK’s first climate justice degree is timely.
Announced this week, the University of Sussex’s undergraduate degree in climate justice, sustainability and development will begin in 2026. The course will combine climate politics, activism, and environmental human rights, with practical green skills.
“Understanding our warming world has never been more important,” said Paul Gilbert, course convenor. “A degree in climate justice … provides [students] with the tools for investigating what is happening and why, but will also help [them] to drive change in the world.”
Image: Racho M Main image: Richard Hewat
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