What went right this week: ‘peak petrol’, plus more

The UK has likely reached “peak petrol” this year, according to analysis by AutoTrader, the country’s leading marketplace for used cars. 

The firm forecasted a sharp decline in petrol cars over the next decade – from 18.7m to 11.1m – amid “price parity between electric and petrol vehicles”.

AutoTrader’s analysis chimes with new sales data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. It showed that 25% of new UK car registrations in November were electric – a 58% increase compared to November 2023. 

“Peak petrol is a genuine landmark for the UK,” said Ian Plummer, AutoTrader’s commercial director. “We expect to see a seismic shift in British motoring over the next decade as the number of petrol cars falls by nearly half and EVs take a much bigger share.” 

Greenpeace’s UK policy director Doug Parr said: “This bumper month for EV sales pours cold water on the attempts by some car makers to water down production targets, as well as the misinformation being spread that seeks to sow seeds of doubt among the public.”

Not everyone welcomed the news. Vauxhall announced this week that it would close its van-making factory in Luton, citing the EV transition as the reason. The plant employs 1,100 people.  

Image: Jay Wennington

Sex workers in Belgium have won the legal right to sick pay, maternity leave, and other labour rights that the rest of the workforce has had for decades. 

Under the new rules, sex workers have the right to an official employment contract, which regulates remuneration, working hours, and – crucially – means they can refuse a client or a sexual act without fear of being sacked by a brothel.

The change in the law was welcomed by Utsopi, the Belgian union for prostitutes, which campaigned for the changes. 

While critics consider prostitution a form of exploitation, Amnesty International supports decriminalisation, claiming it is the best way to safeguard sex workers and reduce stigma. Belgium became the first European country to decriminalise sex work in 2022. 

Image: Christian Gertenbach

Carbon capture may be a distraction from the hard work of reducing emissions, but many scientists believe that it will be necessary to stabilise the climate. Could a new material help with the task? 

Developed by academics at the University of California, Berkeley, the porous material – known as a covalent organic framework – sucks CO2 from ambient air. In a study, 200g of the stuff was shown to draw down as much carbon as a tree does in a year.    

“We took a powder of this material, put it in a tube, and we passed Berkeley air – just outdoor air – into the material to see how it would perform. It cleaned the air entirely of CO2,” said Omar Yaghi, professor of chemistry at the university. “I’m excited about it because there’s nothing like it out there in terms of performance. It breaks new ground in our efforts to address the climate problem.”

Yaghi plans to produce the substance at scale. However, direct air capture technology, which involves moving huge volumes of air around, remains energy intensive. And while Berkeley’s breakthrough has been broadly welcomed, scientists stress the need for urgent emissions cuts.

Image: University of California, Berkley

A freedom fighter turned politician who has long campaigned for women’s rights made history this week by being elected Namibia’s first female president.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (pictured) is a prominent figure in Namibian politics. The 72-year-old rallied against occupying forces when her country was ruled by South African, and lived in exile in Zambia, Tanzania and the UK, where she did a degree in International Relations. 

“The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah, after the election result was called on Tuesday. Her victory is being contested by rival Panduleni Itula, who claimed the vote was “flawed”. According to the electoral commission, Nandi-Ndaitwah received 57% of the vote, with Itula getting 26%. 

Nandi-Ndaitwah has long been an advocate for women’s rights. In 2002, she successfully pushed the Combating of Domestic Violence Act through Namibia’s National Assembly.

Image: Vitalio Angula/VOA

Under new guidance to counter the threat of stalking, people in England and Wales will have the right to know the identity of the person who is stalking them, the UK government announced this week.

Not knowing the identity of an online stalker can be unsettling. It means people are left in the dark as to whether the offender is known to them, which can put them in more danger.  

The new ‘right to know’ guidance will empower police to reveal the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity. Under the new guidance, stalking protection orders will also be made more widely available. Such orders ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims or contacting them, and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme to address the root causes of their behaviour.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Today’s measures are an important part of our cross-government mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.” However, some campaigners claimed that they don’t go far enough.

Image: Andrew Neel

Millions of worn garments otherwise destined for landfill are to be recycled after the UK opened its first clothing recycling plant this week. 

The hydrogen-powered facility (pictured) will create no emissions, just water. The plant in Kettering, Northamptonshire, will recycle post-consumer garments and other textiles, transforming them into raw materials that can be reused by the fashion and textiles industries. 

The Project Re:claim facility – a partnership between the Salvation Army and Project Plan B, a textile recycling company – is forecast to recycle 2,500 tonnes of polyester waste in its first year, rising to double that in year two. 

“In the UK alone, 300,000 tonnes of textile items, including polyester, are discarded into household waste annually,” said Tim Cross, CEO of Project Plan B. “Up until now, polyester that had no useful life left would have been disposed of.”

Image: Project Reclaim

More than three-quarters of UK universities have now pledged to drop fossil fuel companies from their investments, according to the student network People & Planet.

The group’s Fossil Free campaign was launched in 2013, and calls on universities to cut ties with oil and gas companies, and divest from fossil fuels.

This week, it said that 115 out of 149 UK universities have now committed to dropping fossil fuels. It means that £17.7bn of funds have been cut from fossil fuel investment by universities across the UK.

Laura Clayson, a campaign manager at People & Planet, said: “That we can celebrate this today is down to the generations of students and staff that have fought for justice in solidarity with impacted communities. The days of UK universities profiteering from investments in this neo-colonial industry are over.”

Image: Lokesh B Masania

Doing less than four minutes of high-intensity exercise every day can almost halve the risk of women having a heart attack, according to a new study.

Some 13,000 women participated in the study, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which focused on short, intense physical efforts embedded into daily life, like climbing stairs, brisk walking, or carrying heavy items. These activities were compared to structured exercise, such as running, cycling, or gym workouts.

Those performing just 3.4 minutes of intense exercise a day saw a 45% lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, and a 67% lower risk of heart failure. Benefits were especially clear for women who don’t typically exercise.

Findings were less clear for men involved in the study, highlighting the need for sex-specific guidelines and research when it comes to health and exercise.

Image: Bruce Mars

For the first time, a dog has been trained to sniff out the deadly tree disease, phytophthora ramorum, which has devastated thousands of hectares of forest in the UK.

In trials, Ivor, a six-year-old cocker spaniel labrador cross, accurately detected the fungal-like organism 89% of the time. He was trained by handlers at Canine Assisted Pest Eradication, which uses non-toxic methods to combat pests.

“The results from the trials have been incredibly encouraging, with a first-time 89% detection rate highlighting the huge potential of dogs in our fight against pests and diseases,” said Dr Heather Dun, a pathologist at Forest Research, a research institute based in Scotland. “Biosecurity is incredibly important and detection dogs like Ivor are an exciting new method for helping to protect our trees.”

Image: Heather Dun

The 200-year-old Sycamore Gap tree was a beloved feature at Hadrian’s Wall, before being chopped down illegally in an act of vandalism in 2023.

Now, 49 saplings – one for each foot of the sycamore’s height – will be sent to new homes across the UK to preserve its legacy.

The National Trust, a conservation charity, received more than 500 applications from communities hopeful for the seeds, and have just announced the recipients. They include a prison, scout group and cricket club.

“Each sapling will carry a message of hope with it as they start a new chapter not just for the tree but for all the 49 people and communities that will receive a sapling next year,” said the National Trust’s Andrew Poad.

Read the full story here.

Image: National Trust Images/James Dobson
Main image: nrqemi/iStock