03 Jun 2021

Ofwat ‘Executive summary Facing into the future We face an immediate challenge. Our water sector needs to tackle demands from climate change, customers’ increasing expectations for service and the treatment of the environment, and the pressures on people’s ability to pay. Climate change threatens resilience, both of our networks and our water supply. We’re already […]

03 Jun 2021

Guardian ‘ Conservation watchdog given boost after decade of funding cuts that left it at ‘crisis point’ Natural England, the government’s conservation watchdog, is to receive a 47% increase in government funding this year as its role expands to support a “green recovery” and provide environmental scrutiny of the government’s controversial “Project Speed”. The dramatic […]

03 Jun 2021

The long pause in the Environment Bill has prompted more ideas for what might be included and several of these have been incorporated into the Bill – notably on sewage pollution from storm overflows and state of nature targets for wildlife. Defra Environment Bill continues through Parliament ‘New amendments will include legally-binding 2030 species target […]

03 Jun 2021

Anglian Water ‘Future Fens Integrated Adaptation will deliver resilience to the impacts of climate change, unlock housing growth and job creation, allow for upgraded transport links, improve biodiversity and support new opportunities for tourism. The project is the first of its kind anywhere in the UK. The initiative is a collaboration between Anglian Water, Water […]

03 Jun 2021

Rewilding  Manisfesto The breakdown of our climate and the species extinction crisis are no longer fringe concerns but are increasingly recognised as urgent existential threats to both nature and human society. Yet the gulf between our awareness of that threat and the inadequacy of our current response is terrifying. Now, more than ever, we must […]

25 May 2021

Damning articles, though the main source of microplastics is from manufacturing (spills), tyres, road markings and from washing of clothes made from synthetic materials. From the BBC, Wastewater is ‘polluting rivers with microplastic’ Untreated wastewater “routinely released into UK rivers” is creating microplastic hotspots on riverbeds. That is the conclusion of a study in Greater […]

25 May 2021

From Utility Week Kwarteng gives update on prime minister’s 10-point plan Ed Miliband has branded the Green Homes Grant “the policy that dared not speak its name” after the cancelled housing decarbonisation scheme was ignored in today’s government progress report on the prime minister’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. The shadow business and […]

25 May 2021

A suite of new reports providing further support for natural solutions. First up, a British Ecological Society report, Nature-based solutions for climate change in the UK. The report provides examples of opportunities for nature-based solutions across a range of habitats, as well as discussion of some of the complexities involved in planning for nature-based solutions. […]