December’s positive climate news: Bird populations recovering – and is there a giant oyster reef heading your way?

Conservation group, Oyster Heaven, is planning to create a reef of over four million oysters off the Norfolk coast by the end of 2026. Baby oysters – known as spats – will be seeded on more than 40,000 specially-designed clay bricks and dropped into the sea beneath a seaweed farm to make sure they aren’t trawled. North Sea coasts were filled with oyster reefs a century ago, but today they are functional extinct. Piers Hart of the World Wildlife Fund says “the main benefit is biodiversity and water quality improvement”. A single oyster can filter a staggering 200 litres of sea water per day.

This year’s seasonal ozone hole, the area of thinning ozone above Antarctica, was the smallest and shortest-lived since 2019. The hole closed on 1 December, the earliest in six years, and was significantly smaller than the historical maximum. This is great news for the health of the planet because the ozone layer in the Earth's stratosphere protects humans and all life from the sun's harmful UV rays. The hole was discovered in 1985, with scientists quickly identifying CFCs as the culprits. A global agreement to start phasing out the gases was signed just two years later in an impressive display of international cooperation.

A new study shows that bird populations in France may be beginning to recover just four years after bee-killing neonicotinoid insecticides were banned. Neonicotinoids were introduced in the 1990s and were rapidly adopted across Europe – but mass die-offs of bees began to be reported in the 2000s. Research showed that the chemicals affected their navigation and foraging abilities, and after a huge public outcry, the chemicals were banned in the UK and EU in 2018. According to the analysis of bird data from 2022, France’s population of insect-eating birds – including blackbirds, blackcaps and chaffinches – has already increased by two to three per cent.

Every electronic gadget, from a simple electric toothbrush to the latest 50-inch television, has a circuit board at its heart. These green boards are printed with electronic pathways and fitted with the components that power your gear and are almost impossible to recycle. However, the world produces over 50 million tonnes of electronic waste each year, so researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology (Empa) have come up with a biodegradable board material based on wood. At the end of its life, your gadget could be composted, after which the metallic and electronic components could be removed and recycled.

A campaign is underway for the Nobel Committee to create a prize dedicated to climate change. This would be a significant change as the Nobel Prize currently has just six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Literature, Economics and Physiology/Medicine. Ecosia, the internet search engine that plants trees and donates to climate projects with its profits, has put up one million euros to help fund the new prize. Christian Kroll, CEO, says: “This new prize will spotlight, reward and inspire the groundbreaking innovations and dedicated individuals who are working tirelessly to ensure our survival for generations to come."