What lessons does COVID-19 offer for sustainability? The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted swift and forceful actions by governments and societies around the world. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing reflects on these responses and the link between the pandemic and the environment to draw lessons that could be used in making societies more sustainable. Read […]

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Bright Blue, the ‘independent’ think tank (open to liberal conservatives everywhere) has published In Deep Water? Mapping the impacts of flooding in the UK since 2007 Also covered in The Guardian From the research The COVID-19 pandemic has, sadly, shown that government planning for national emergencies and crises can fail to imagine the full range […]

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The Environment Agency will allow water companies to discharge untreated effluent to surface water in event of “supply chain failures” to obtain treatment chemicals Water and sewerage company effluent discharges – supply chain failure: RPS B2 How to manage effluent discharge treatment when you cannot get the chemicals you need because of unavoidable supply chain […]

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From the Guardian The UK’s climate targets will cost the government less over the next 30 years than the price of battling the Covid-19 pandemic if it acts quickly, according to the UK’s fiscal watchdog. Forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show that ending the UK’s contribution to the global climate crisis would […]

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Analysing a range of scenarios for how the use of public transport, broadband networks and utilities might change as a result of Covid-19 and regularly reviewing which trends seem to be playing out is the best way of avoiding policy paralysis in the face of huge uncertainties, according to the National Infrastructure Commission. Behaviour change […]

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North Atlantic right whales gave birth over the winter in greater numbers than have seen since 2015, an encouraging sign for researchers who became alarmed three years ago when the critically endangered species produced no known offspring at all. It’s qualified good news though since right whales are still dying — largely from manmade causes — at […]

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Environment Agency slashes number of water pollution incident visits Guardian  ‘Huge drop in number of visits during Covid crisis raises concerns polluters are breaking laws with impunity The Environment Agency has dramatically reduced the frequency that it attends water pollution incidents amid the Covid-19 pandemic, raising concerns the crisis is allowing companies to break environmental regulations with […]

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