03 Dec 2024

Three leading keynote speakers have been announced for the Coastal Futures 2025 conference. Coastal Futures is the UK’s largest annual gathering of coastal and marine practitioners. The 2025 programme will include six sessions across two-days, covering the big issues and shining a light on future trends.  The acting CEO of the Marine Management Organisation, Michelle […]

03 Dec 2024

The UK has called for views on changes to its emissions trading system (ETS) that could see the shipping sector join its carbon market from 2026. Britain’s ETS is part of its wider efforts to meet climate targets and was launched in 2021 to replace its participation in the European Union’s ETS after it left […]

03 Dec 2024

A third of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are threatened with extinction, says a new landmark report. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has released a report, Global Status of Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras, that highlights new knowledge compiled by 353 experts from 115 countries and stresses the urgent need to address overfishing and bycatch […]

27 Nov 2024

As the clean-up continues in areas hit by Storm Bert, forecasters, environment officials and politicians have been strongly criticised over the warnings issued before the storm and the fitness of flood defences to cope with increasingly common extreme weather (The Guardian).   Photo credit: Ray Bilcliff   The Environment Agency said that lessons learned from […]

27 Nov 2024

COP29 ended with a deal in which rich countries promised to raise $300bn a year by 2035 tripling climate finance support for developing countries. However, many poorer countries were left outraged by the deal, and the financial settlement also fails to consider the effect of inflation.   Photo credit: Markus Spiske   The UK government […]

27 Nov 2024

Defra has published bathing water results showing that 92% of English bathing waters meet water quality standards. The number of monitored bathing waters in England rated as poor and unfit for swimming has more than doubled, from 18 to 37. Out of the 450 sites regularly tested this summer for bacteria related to sewage discharges, […]

27 Nov 2024

The Environment Agency has published the outputs of a project exploring new approaches for examining the impact of droughts on English catchments and water supply systems, with the aim of increasing preparedness and understanding the range of interventions to take in different droughts.   Photo credit: Tom Fisk   Background This project explored new approaches […]

27 Nov 2024

Ofwat, the economic regulator for English and Welsh water companies, says it had used new powers to ensure that bonuses at the three companies were paid by shareholders and bondholders – rather than through customer bills – because the payments had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”. The companies are Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr […]