Many blue flag beaches were covered in waste, and Brighton was among the worst-hit, Lib Dem report shows
England’s most celebrated beaches faced 8,500 hours of sewage dumping last year, new figures show.
Many beaches with blue flag status– an international mark of recognition that a beach is deemed safe and has good water quality – were found to have been covered in waste over the last 12 months.
Continue reading...Government plan to educate owners and encourage fines not enough to effectively tackle air pollution
• Study links air pollution to mental ill-health
Politicians and campaigners have called for an urgent review of wood-burning stoves, which cause large amounts of pollution in urban areas.
The calls follow the admission by the environment secretary that the government had set weaker air pollution targets than it would like. The admission came as she announced a new environmental plan for England that held back from banning wood-burning stoves and settled instead for “educating” people on their use.
Continue reading...Lack of funding identified as biggest obstacle to planting and maintaining hedgerows
Farmers are urging the government to include hedge creation in its nature-friendly farming subsidy scheme in an attempt to increase biodiversity.
Details about the post-Brexit replacement for the EU’s common agricultural policy have been scarce, with land managers simply told they would get payments for providing “public goods” such as protecting nature.
Continue reading...Weeks before Cop15 in Montreal, leaked letter to EU shows host tried to water down deforestation regulations
The Canadian government has been accused of putting its domestic timber industry ahead of the global environment, following a leaked attempt to water down the world’s most ambitious regulations on deforestation-free trade.
Weeks before the United Nations biodiversity conference, Cop15 in Montreal, the host nation sent a letter to the European Commission asking for a reconsideration of “burdensome traceability requirements” within a proposed EU scheme that aims to eradicate unsustainably sourced wood products from the world’s biggest market.
Continue reading...Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current target
The government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.
Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Alex Sobel will be discussing Labour’s “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target.
Continue reading...PM said he stood by Tories’ 2019 manifesto policy when asked in Commons, in rebuff to Liz Truss
Fracking will in effect remain banned under Rishi Sunak’s government, his spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, saying the new prime minister was committed to the policy in the 2019 manifesto.
The confirmation came after the prime minister told the Commons that he “stands by” the manifesto, which put a moratorium on shale gas extraction.
Continue reading...PM wants to prevent panels on 58% of farmland but business secretary says renewables need to be boosted
Liz Truss is facing a rebellion from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business department over plans to ban solar power from most of England’s farmland.
The prime minister and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, want to ban solar from about 41% of the land area of England, or about 58% of agricultural land, the Guardian revealed earlier this week.
Continue reading...Unusual diplomatic intervention prompted by fears over Liz Truss’s commitment to net zero
The Egyptian government, host of the next UN climate summit, has warned the UK against “backtracking from the global climate agenda”, in a significant intervention prompted by fears over Liz Truss’s commitment to net zero.
The warning before the Cop27 conference, which will take place in just over a month in Sharm el-Sheikh, to the host of Cop26, which took place in Glasgow last November, is highly unusual in diplomatic terms. The hosts of successive Cops are responsible for a smooth handover of the talks.
Continue reading...The new PM has not set out plans for reducing energy waste; instead she has talked of more oil and gas
Liz Truss faces a daunting array of environmental crises, from energy supply to sewage spills on British beaches, with little to show that she has the inclination to take them on.
Ben Goldsmith, the chair of the Conservative Environment Network, and a longtime green Tory who was a strong supporter of Boris Johnson, said of the UK’s new prime minister and her defeated rival: “Neither Truss nor Sunak has been known for their passion for nature. Neither has made a name for themselves as an environmental leader.”
Continue reading...Analysis: noncommittal positions of leadership hopefuls on tackling climate crisis may be short-sighted
It’s the driest, hottest summer in 50 years, yet the Conservative leadership candidates appear to be fiddling while Britain burns.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have barely been asked anything about their plans for tackling the climate emergency in all their debates and hustings so far – and nor have they made it a leading campaign issue themselves.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn crucial legislation must not be abandoned while the UK government is distracted
Crucial environment legislation must not be allowed to be sidelined or abandoned amid the distraction of a Tory leadership race, campaigners have warned.
Ministers openly admit they do not know what is going on with much of the legislation, but those who remain in government are working with skeleton teams to get bills in shape to be passed.
Continue reading...Campaigners say nature in England faces ‘perfect storm of threats’ with eight promised bills yet to appear
Nature faces a “perfect storm of threats”, campaigners say, after eight wildlife bills promised by Boris Johnson since coming to power have so far failed to see the light of day.
The government has been accused of reneging on commitments by failing to deliver policies on nature-friendly farming, the use of peat and pesticides, reintroducing beavers and other lost species, and protecting rare marine life.
Post-Brexit farming reforms – The government has broken its promise to reform farming post-Brexit. In its national food strategy for England published earlier this month the government’s commitment to provide a third of its farming budget for landscape recovery has been abandoned.
Ban on horticultural peat use – The government has consulted on the ban on the sale of peat and products containing peat in England and Wales after the failure of voluntary targets. Over 12 weeks (the usual time limit for responding) have passed and the government has yet to respond to the consultation. There was also no clear legislative vehicle in the recent Queen’s speech to enact the ban.
Beaver reintroductions – Last year, the government consulted on further reintroductions of beavers in England following the successful River Otter beaver trial. The government has yet to publish its response to the consultation or announce its approach to the reintroduction of beavers in England. This was part of the secretary of state’s announcement at Delamere Forest in May 2021.
Species reintroduction taskforce – Also part of that announcement was the commitment to establish an England species reintroduction taskforce to consider reintroductions of lost species such as wildcats, as well as the release of declining species such as the curlew, into areas from which they have been lost to help populations recover.
National action plan on the sustainable use of pesticides – The UK government consulted on the draft national action plan in December 2020 but has yet to publish the final version of its plan to replace the 2013 version.
Landscapes review – Despite responding to the landscapes review, the government has yet to legislate for the recommendations it accepted, such as amending the statutory purpose to ensure the core function of protected landscapes should be to drive nature recovery in England.
Integrated pest management – The government has yet to confirm whether key components of the new agricultural system, such as integrated pest management, will be included in the new sustainable farming incentive from next year.
Bycatch mitigation initiative – A policy to protect rare marine life from being unintentionally caught by fishers was approved in March but has not come to fruition, after being expected in May.
Continue reading...Exclusive: PM told there could be eight years’ decline before any gains despite already being at ‘rock bottom’
The government has set damaging and illogical targets for species recovery in England that could mean there is eight years of decline before any improvement, despite already being at “rock bottom”, scientists have warned the prime minister.
Twenty-three leading scientists from institutions including Oxford and Cambridge universities, the Natural History Museum, the Zoological Society of London and the RSPB have written to Boris Johnson expressing their alarm over the nature targets.
Continue reading...Report finds strong support for climate policies among Tory voters despite some MPs’ negative stance
The Conservative party could lose more than 1.3 million voters if the government scraps its net zero target, research suggests.
A report by the centre-right thinktank Onward, which counts the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, among its supporters, has found there is strong support for tackling the climate crisis among Tory voters despite attempts by some on the right of the party to campaign against the measures.
Continue reading...PM ‘passionate’ about potential in light of fresh push for self-sufficiency after Russia invasion of Ukraine
Boris Johnson is expected to open the door to more onshore wind at next week’s energy strategy, despite some cabinet ministers lobbying against relaxing planning laws to allow more turbines.
The cabinet is split over whether to aim for more onshore wind projects, which can often get into lengthy planning battles, after officials drew up plans for a target of 30GW by 2030.
Continue reading...Japanese measures including turning down the heating and slower trains could ease pressure on British households, say experts
Britain could learn from Japan’s response to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster by reducing energy consumption to deal with soaring global gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, academics have said.
Suggesting a coordinated response to record gas prices could help ease the pressure on households, experts told MPs on the Commons business committee that steps to reduce national demand for gas-fired power next winter could be deployed.
Continue reading...Sewage works, airports and seaports among key infrastructure at risk, says intergovernmental report
The UK “is very much not adapted to climate change and not prepared”, according to a lead author of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The study, published this week and approved by 195 countries, says the worldwide impacts of the climate crisis are more severe than predicted and there is only a narrow chance of securing “a liveable future for all”.
Continue reading...UN environment assembly resolution is being hailed as biggest climate deal since 2015 Paris accord
World leaders, environment ministers and other representatives from 173 countries have agreed to develop a legally binding treaty on plastics, in what many described a truly historic moment.
The resolution, agreed at the UN environment assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, calls for a treaty covering the “full lifecycle” of plastics from production to disposal, to be negotiated over the next two years. It has been described by the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as the most important multilateral environmental deal since the Paris climate accord in 2015.
Continue reading...Brussels faces backlash and charges of greenwashing after publishing draft proposals on New Year’s Eve
The European Commission is facing a furious backlash over plans to allow gas and nuclear to be labelled as “green” investments, as Germany’s economy minister led the charge against “greenwashing”.
The EU executive was accused of trying to bury the proposals by releasing long-delayed technical rules on its green investment guidebook to diplomats on New Year’s Eve, hours before a deadline expired.
Continue reading...Prime minister says ‘too many countries doing too little’ amid last-minute talks before summit
World leaders have been warned that Cop26 must “mark the beginning of the end of climate change” amid last-minute talks that could help determine the future of the planet.
With the long-awaited environmental summit due to start on Monday, Boris Johnson issued his plea while saying “too many countries are still doing too little”.
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