01 Oct 2024

Spending just under £3 billion on creating and restoring wetlands around the UK in the next 27 years could yield at least £11 billion in benefits for society and the environment, new research has revealed. New findings from WWT, the environmental charity focussed on wetlands and wildlife, and environmental economics consultancy eftec, showed that spending […]

26 Sep 2024

Introducing the new OCF brand     We’ve worked recently to pin down who we are and what we do, and we’ve also put a lot of thought into defining our mission, vision and values. One of the more noticeable outputs from this work will be our new brand identity – which will begin to appear over […]

25 Sep 2024

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has published a new report calling for the Government to set clear standards of resilience that infrastructure operators must maintain in the face of sudden shocks. The NIC says that climate change and related weather extremes, alongside a heightened reliance on digital technologies, mean that the UK faces increased risks […]

25 Sep 2024

In his first major foreign policy speech, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has made clear that action on climate is action on our security, our prosperity and our future. At the Kew Lecture, Lammy talked about “resetting Britain’s approach to climate and nature”, setting out three priorities Building a Global Clean Power Alliance Unlocking more climate […]

25 Sep 2024

The government has accepted that not enough progress has been made in improving the water environment in England. The admission came in response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive regulations and River Basin Management Planning. Defra’s response recognises that “The government agrees that there has […]

25 Sep 2024

The Planning Inspectorate has published guidance on how Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) will need to take the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) into account. It said when reporting and on an NSIP application, the examining authority will need to consider the potential effects of any proposed development on: The environmental objectives and […]

25 Sep 2024

George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian, says more floods are coming to Britain, and that the network of public bodies supposed to safeguard us are bastions of self-interest. Labour’s first stage of government resembles a vast forensic excavation. As it works through the Conservatives’ midden of horrors, it discovers an ever greater legacy of underinvestment, […]