Some Reasons to Have Hope

Image: Claudia Wollesen

Ecology is nothing, if not desperate. Yet, despite the looming threat that awaits our generation, for it to work, there has to be hope; the problem is, the latter is pretty hard to find. So, without further ado, SPE has gathered the ecological good news, more or less global, more or less known. This does not mean that the world is changing fast enough—far from it. But it is moving, and we should keep fighting until the good news is that we made it.

1. Paul Watson’s red notice is suspended

First off, Paul Watson is no longer under an Interpol red notice; this entails that his freedom of movement is now restored, as he cannot be arrested in Interpol’s 196 member states anymore; the latter must not conform to Japan’s arrest notice, it being unfounded.

Paul Watson is an environmental activist, who was placed under an international arrest warrant due to his alleged violation of Japanese laws, on the grounds of his anti-whaling interventions with his NGO, Sea Shepherd; more precisely, he was charged with ‘Breaking into the Vessel, Damage to Property, Forcible Obstruction of Business, and Injury’. He was then arrested in Greenland, while trying to intercept a Japanese whaling ship, the Kangei Maru. He was also subject to a request for extradition to Japan, which had been rejected by Denmark in December.

2. Finland shuts down its last coal-fired power plant

At the end of March, Finland permanently shut down its very last active coal power and heat plant in Salmisaari, a neighbourhood of Helsinki. Daily coal-based energy production is no longer on the agenda; the country now turns to renewable energy, notably wind and solar.

This closure should reduce CO2 emissions in Helsinki by 30% compared to 2024. Already in 2023, the shutting down of the Hanasaari B coal power plant is reported to have cut Finland’s overall emissions by 5%. What remains to be addressed are two small plants in Finland which still partially use coal, and a third coal plant for emergency use and consumption peaks as, in 2019, the government passed a law which banned the use of coal from 2029 forward.

3. South Africa safeguards its penguins

A landmark court order in South Africa imposed no-fishing zones, in which six key African penguin species must be safeguarded. Biodiversity was notably threatened by harvesting guano, which damaged their habitat—guano being ‘accumulated bird droppings into which penguins would dig their burrows’—not to mention the fishing of sardines and anchovies, on which the penguins depend, or even ‘purse seine’ fishing vessels which deploy large nets to catch fish.

The legal action here, the first of its kind, was initiated by the national organisation BirdLife South Africa and the non-profit Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, following the warning of scientists regarding species decline. In 2024, light was shed on troubling deterioration, with a decline of approximately 8% every year. According to the Biodiversity Law Centre, the African penguin population shrank from over one million pairs in the 1920s to 8,750 in 2023. The Pretoria High Court held that the government had failed to protect endangered species, notably after scientific recommendations. The court order has been issued for ten years—2035 being the year in which the penguin is, in current conditions, predicted to go extinct—and will be reviewed in six.

4. European cities seek to deter car use

In Europe, cities are progressively taking measures to reduce the use of cars; this ranges from congestion fees, to creating bike lanes, removing parking spots, and full bans. Such restrictions have been adopted by 340 European cities and towns as per March 2025, and hopefully will become increasingly popular. Instead, cities are choosing to prioritise climate and health in their design. However, one should keep in mind issues of equity and identity when adopting anti-car measures, lest they should move ahead blindly and trigger backlash.

5. Carbon emissions in the UK decline by 4%

The British Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published statistics which show that UK efforts to tackle climate change are having an impact—although the country still very much depends on gas for energy, as underlined by Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s policy director. Still, this is one step in the right direction, with electricity supply emissions and industrial emissions falling by 15% and 9% respectively, along with the shutting down of the UK’s last coal power plant last September. Additionally, in London, pollution has dropped following the widening of the Ultra Low Emission Zone in 2023; in its first year of expansion, toxic gas emissions reportedly fell by 27%.