Positive Climate News - March 2025

This month's collection of positive climate news stories highlight how one Cornwall farmer is using beavers to stop flooding, a new green scheme which will allow residents to directly invest in carbon neutral schemes in their city and tree-planting schemes taking place across the UK.

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UK emissions fell to lowest level since 1872 last year

The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to the lowest level since 1872 last year, according to Carbon Brief. The decrease last year was largely driven by coal use falling to the lowest level since 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London. Other contributors included a drop in demand for oil and gas, a nearly 40% rise in electric vehicles on the road, and record levels of clean energy.

Find out more on the Independent website.

Schools and hospitals get £180m solar investment

Hundreds of schools and hospitals across the UK are set to receive £180 million for solar panels from the government's new state-owned energy company. The first major investment from Great British Energy was announced on Friday as part of government efforts to reduce the country's planet-warming emissions.

Find out more on the BBC website.

New national forest to see 20m trees planted

Twenty million trees will be planted and 2,500 hectares (6,178 acres) of new woodland created in the west of England as part of a "national forest" drive, the government has announced.

It will be the first of three new national forests promised by the government to help meet a legally-binding target of achieving 16.5% woodland cover in England by 2050.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Scheme allows Bristol residents to invest in climate action

A new green scheme will allow residents to directly invest in Bristol's carbon neutral schemes. It aims to raise up to £1m in its initial phase, with further rounds over the next 18 months expected to bring the total to £2m.

The money will be used to install energy-saving measures in the city, including heat pumps, solar panels, and LED lighting on council-owned buildings.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE

The government has announced the introduction of a GCSE in natural history, a qualification which has been campaigned for by nature lovers for more than a decade.

Announcing the new GCSE in parliament, the education minister Catherine McKinnell said it would equip young people “to understand and respect the natural world and contribute to the protection and conservation of the environment locally, nationally and internationally”.

Find out more on The Guardian website.

Kew to open garden focusing on climate change

Kew Gardens will open a new "ground-breaking" garden in July that explores the urgent need to tackle climate change. The Carbon Garden will show how carbon helps to sustain life on Earth, the scale of "the climate crisis" and how nature can be used to combat it.

It aims to inspire visitors to take actions in their everyday lives to support the planet. It will also educate visitors on how plants and fungi act as "natural allies in climate repair" as they capture carbon and restore balance.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Cornwall woodland planting to fight climate change

Forty thousand trees are being planted on National Trust land on the south coast of Cornwall as part of the charity's plans to plant more than 20 million trees nationally by 2030. The trust said Cornwall was one of the least wooded counties in the UK and trees were essential for wildlife and carbon capture.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Nature reserve saved from being built on

A trust has succeeded in buying 20 acres of land threatened by development to turn into a nature reserve. Townend Field in Great Ouseburn, near Harrogate, was at risk of being "bulldozed" when it went up for sale, according to the Upper Ouse Conservation Trust.

Actress Dame Judi Dench, whose family used to visit the beauty spot, supported their campaign to meet the £275,000 asking price. Trustee Graeme Jackson said the trust managed to raise the funds in 29 days.

Find out more on the BBC website.

How one Cornwall farmer is using beavers to stop flooding

Chris Jones, a beef farmer, is behind the change in law to release beavers in England after witnessing the incredible benefits on his land. Since releasing a couple into an enclosure on his Cornwall farm in 2017, he says they have saved it from drought, prevented flooding in the nearby village, boosted the local economy and even improved oyster beds in Falmouth Bay.

Find out more on The Guardian website.

Peterborough project aims to empower young people through nature

A charity that looks after green spaces in Peterborough has been awarded a National Lottery grant to run a scheme empowering young people by connecting them with nature.

The two-year project will offer workshops in gardening, conservation and wildlife surveying. It aims to reach 500 people aged 11 to 25 through group sessions, by working with local wildlife, arts and community groups.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Volunteers plant 800 trees at National Trust site

The National Trust and local community groups have planted 800 trees in west Cornwall to help tackle climate change. The trust said there was a mixture of 22 different native species on the edge of Godolphin Woods following the planting programme.

It said the programme had been funded by Forest for Cornwall, which paid for the supply of saplings. John Cartwright, area ranger for the west Cornwall countryside team, said increasing the woodland and forests was one of the "simplest ways to tackle climate change".

Find out more on the BBC website.

Brownfield site to be turned into nature reserve

Young people are taking a leading role in turning a brownfield site into a community nature reserve over the next three years. Grow Wilder is a five-acre urban nature reserve on the edge of Bristol and is part of Avon Wildlife Trust's Intergenerational Action for Climate and Nature programme.

The programme recently received £870,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund and organisers hope that young people can help use that funding to transform the space.

Find out more on the BBC website.

Volunteers plant three 'tiny forests' in one day

Hundreds of volunteers have planted three "tiny forests" in north London in a day. Children and adults planted 1,800 trees next to the North Circular in Finchley as part of a "citizen scientist" project to understand how soil conditions impact tree growth.

Jane Rampin, land manager at climate change organisation Earthwatch, said the site chosen was an "unloved area" with "appalling" air pollution - and she hoped the tree planting would change this.

Find out more on the BBC website.

By Eveline Vouillemin ©