A transport minister has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to active travel, including cycling and walking, in the first such announcement since Liz Truss won the Conservative Party leadership election and took over from Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
In a written question, Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York and Shadow Minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, asked the Secretary for State for Transport whether “(s)he will introduce a funding pilot aimed at increasing the number of people who shift from using cars to public transport.”
In response, Lucy Frazer, Minister of State at the Department for Transport, said: “As set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, we want public transport and walking and cycling to be the natural first choice for our daily journeys.

While international concerns about the gravity of climate change continue to deepen, there are also mounting signs of change in both attitude, policy and action across the world. The UK has forged a leadership position in such change. While other serious economic challenges lie (seemingly more immediately) before us, now must be the time when the UK redoubles its efforts to lead where others can then follow when it comes to decarbonisation.

Adrian Fisk’s exhibiton can be seen now

Reclaim The Streets take over Camden High Street [Adrian Fisk]
CAMDEN High Street was brought to a halt after protesters warning about the rocketing amount of greenhouse gases in London’s polluted air dragged obstacles into the road and held an impromptu party and demonstration.
Not this week – but a protest in Camden Town 25 years ago, as a new exhibition points out.
The photographs of Adrian Fisk, which include images from the Reclaim The Streets protests that brought Camden to a standstill in the mid-1990s, are the subject of a new exhibition at the Climate Change Centre in Upper Street, Islington.
He remembers the day protesters brought the fight against the climate crisis to the bustling weekend streets of Camden Town.

Last year the City of London Corporation announced that it would be the first local authority to introduce the lower speed limit across the Square Mile in a bid to make its streets safer.
Other councils in built-up areas around the country were expected to follow suit if the change was successful.
But The Independent has learned that the Department for Transport (DfT) has refused to grant permission to the corporation to enforce the planned lower limit.
DfT officials said they were concerned about the accuracy of speedometers at such low speeds and the fact that not all speedometers were marked in 5mph gradations.

‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan

Kohei Saito’s book Capital in the Anthropocene has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English
Justin McCurry
The climate crisis will spiral out of control unless the world applies “emergency brakes” to capitalism and devises a “new way of living”, according to a Japanese academic whose book on Marxism and the environment has become a surprise bestseller.
The message from Kohei Saito, an associate professor at Tokyo University, is simple: capitalism’s demand for unlimited profits is destroying the planet and only “degrowth” can repair the damage by slowing down social production and sharing wealth.
In practical terms, that means an end to mass production and the mass consumption of wasteful goods such as fast fashion. In Capital in the Anthropocene, Saito also advocates decarbonisation through shorter working hours and prioritising essential “labour-intensive” work such as caregiving.

China, which is currently the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, is said to be “doubling down” on coal and gas in the wake of a domestic energy crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

China is continuing to build up its domestic fossil fuel production capacity and strengthening its portfolio for energy imports, even as it accelerates renewable power deployment.
Its energy decisions over the next few years will have large implications for its emissions trajectory towards 2030, its pathway towards the 2060 carbon-neutrality goal, and for global warming as a whole.
These recent developments are reflected in our latest Climate Action Tracker assessment of China’s current targets, policies and climate action, published today, which shows its emissions are likely to increase in the short term.