Green Lamp Posts
A Green Lamp Post Pilot Scheme launched in London earlier this week.
The scheme, titled Smart Pillars, is a collaboration between Scotscape, green infrastructure provider, Greenwich University and Grosvenor Britain & Ireland.
The collaboration aims to bring plants on already existing structures in the streets and bring attention to the benefits of urban greening.
Smart Pillars have been installed in Ebury Street, close to Victoria in the centre of London’s Belgravia. The pollution levels of the street will be monitored to assess the benefits the scheme brings.
Scotscape claims that if the pilot is successful, these Smart Pillars could be installed on over 494,000 lamp posts across London, introducing green biodiversity highways from the countryside into city centres in the interests of biodiversity, well-being and pollution relief.
Climate Change Lawsuits
At least 28 countries have been issued a climate change lawsuit against in the last 30 years.
The new analysis of cases recorded worldwide shows that climate change litigation is most prevalent in the United States but is also spreading to new countries. Since 2015, this includes cases recorded for the first time in Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, Norway and Colombia.
Most of the cases have been launched against governments, including both national and local governments.
Some companies have also been targeted for failing to incorporate climate change into their decision-making, and for failing to disclose risks to their shareholders.
Over 1,300 legal actions concerning climate change have been brought since 1990. In the UK 53 cases have been launched, while the US is responsible for 1,023 of them.
Joana Setzer, co-author of the report by the Grantham Institute and the London School of Economics, said: “Holding government and businesses to account for failing to combat climate change has become a global phenomenon.
“People and environmental groups are forcing governments and companies into court for failing to act on climate change, and not just in the US. The number of countries in which people are taking climate change court action is likely to continue to rise.”
