Short News

More tropical plastic bans

The popular tourist destinations Hawaii and Thailand now join the growing group of states that has decided to ban a range of single-use plastic.

Norwegian electric vehicle record

The Norwegian city of Bergen now holds the world record for electric vehicles. 19.1 percent of the city’s cars are electric.

Air pollution deaths halved

The number of yearly deaths caused by air pollution in Europe has more than halved since 1990. The improvement is due to cleaner industry and vehicles.

Girls need to be older to marry

In a move to curb child marriage, Indonesia has raised the minimum age for marriage from 16 to 19 years.

Tiny lizard gets own island

A tiny blue-tailed lizard became extinct in the wild 10 years ago, but 1,500 lizards have been bred in captivity. They will be released on a safe island.

World powering up

The number of people worldwide without access to electricity decreased last year from 1000 million to 860 million. Most of the progress happened in India.

More tolerance of LGBT

The world has generally become significantly more tolerant of sexual minorities over the last decade, according to a survey conducted in 167 countries.

More safe places to step

Since 2014, the countries of the world have cleared around 800 square kilometres of landmines.

World coal use decreasing rapidly

The total use of coal to generate electricity is set to decrease by 3 percent this year. This amounts to the total coal use by Germany, UK, and Spain combined.

Schoolgirls fight tuberculosis

Since 2016, organised Pakistani schoolgirls have helped diagnose more than million tuberculosis patients and referred them to treatment.

US smoking hits record low

Fewer than one in seven Americans now smoke cigarettes; this is the lowest share in 50 years.

Rare crocodile hatches new eggs

The hatching of 100 eggs brings new hope to the critically endangered gharial-crocodile. Every egg counts, as there are only 1000 adult crocodiles left.