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The Grenfell Tower public inquiry has revealed a catalogue of horrors in the construction trade, implicating manufacturers of plastic insulation that’s widely used to meet regulations focused on reducing carbon emissions and promoting energy efficiency. Barristers have testified that the companies involved viewed the fire safety certificates for their products as marketing tools to be […]
It’s good news that so many people are proposing solutions for the crises in climate and nature. Bill Gates is one among many, and with so many contenders, what criteria will help us prioritise investment choices?
OPINION: Why don’t these billionaire philanthropists like Gates just stop their foundations and pay their fair share of taxes The media everywhere has been fawning over Bill Gates and his new book, How To Avoid A Climate Disaster. But should we really be listening to the world’s third wealthiest man for advice? If his suggestions […]
The Murdoch empire is like Covid spreading misinformation in an anti-climate agenda. But things are changing. And in the UK it’s following competitor Daily Express in a campaign to green the UK. The Murdoch empire “This guy is one of the greatest enemies of climate change action on the planet,” Kevin Rudd recently told the […]
The UK and EU – and potentially the entire G7 – are on a collision course with Australia over trade measures to tackle climate change.
When the coronavirus pandemic began, individuals and members of community groups sprang into action. Without the need for coordination from the local authorities or national governments, people instinctively knew how to support each other.
It’s official: biodiversity is at the heart of economics. Failure to acknowledge this up to now has led to uncountable loss of species. A landmark report commissioned by the British government finally acknowledges this. But will it make any difference?
Microsoft has announced it is to use Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal technology to help it achieve negative emissions by 2030, and to remove the company’s historic emissions by 2050. And Elon Musk has offered $100 million prize for the best scalable technology to achieve the same goal. So, can carbon capture and storage really save […]
Emissions from shipping, buildings and transport are to be drawn into the EU ETS as a result of Europe’s new net zero target
Major disagreements have broken out in the European Union about how individual countries will achieve net zero carbon, a fight that threatens to block the European Commission’s proposed road map.
The United Kingdom, the originator of the Industrial Revolution that kicked off climate change, is forging ahead with R&D projects to reduce the carbon impacts of dirty industries, with the central focus on carbon capture and hydrogen generation, ignoring energy efficiency.
With the economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis deepening the challenge of reaching international energy and climate goals – according to the annual update on efficiency trends from the International Energy Agency – there are major hurdles standing in the way of the net zero carbon pathways being offered by governments in Europe and the […]
The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) has published its recommended pathway to a 78 per cent reduction in UK territorial emissions between 1990 and 2035 leading to net zero by 2050. This brings forward the UK’s previous 80 per cent target by nearly 15 years. The CCC’s chairman, Lord Deben, said: “As we emerge from […]
The pandemic has led more companies to take action on climate change, but so far there is a major disconnect between ambition and action, a survey of sustainability leaders has found.
The super-successful building operational energy performance rating scheme pioneered in Australia has launched in the UK following 18 months of detailed trials to adapt it to the UK environment.
A border tax on high carbon imports, and a list of which economic activities to bankroll, are some of the tasks in hand by the European Union’s Platform on Sustainable Finance.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new 10-point plan for greening the UK is welcomed, but while some call it “game changing”, many argue that the £4 billion (AU$7.26 billion) attached is not nearly enough to meet the needs of the moment.
We are in increasing ecological debt. A circular economy might help stop the debt worsening but only a regenerative economy will repay that debt and return us to credit.
Last week’s article on The Fifth Estate arguing that hydrogen for homes is a terrible idea needs correcting. Green hydrogen has a firm place in a zero carbon future. Its author, Gabriel Levy, is confining his argument against hydrogen to its domestic use. It will still be widely used by 2050 in industry and transport. […]
Is the ESG meme about to self-destruct? Or can objective critiques of companies come to its rescue?
Organisations are increasingly developing their own carbon and ecological footprint calculators to measure their impacts. While there are plenty of generic footprint calculators out there, many organisations’ activities are specific to them and it is more appropriate for them to develop bespoke solutions. The Drivers Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), part of the UK government’s Department […]
“Europe’s man on the moon moment” is how Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, describes the European Green Deal.
The UK government has for 15 years persistently backed the need for new nuclear power. Given its many problems, most informed observers can’t understand why. The answer lies in its commitment to being a nuclear military force. Here’s how, and why, anyone opposing nuclear power also needs to oppose its military use. “All of Britain’s […]
Your questions answered about embodied carbon and scope three emissions. Alex Herridge is something of an expert on embodied carbon. He works for one of the water utilities in the UK – Welsh Water. Herridge’s job is to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. He’s employed by The Capital Delivery Alliance, a group of six companies […]
What are the real-world implications for achieving new net zero buildings? How can new buildings be designed to reach net zero performance targets and what effect does this have on cost? These are the questions researchers for the UK Green Building Council set out to answer with a deep dive into the implications for two […]
Europe’s president Ursula von der Leyen has called for “NextGenerationEU to kickstart a European renovation wave and make our union a leader in the circular economy”. She promised to set up “a new European Bauhaus – a co-creation space where architects, artists, students, engineers, designers work together to make that happen”. At her first State […]
What do companies do once they’ve been evaluated on their environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) performance? It’s a good question when you think about Rio Tinto following its out-of-the-league act of global vandalism in destroying a 46,000 year old sacred site of major significance in human history just to get to the ore […]
Renewable electricity generation and storage requires huge quantities of mined raw materials. In Europe, most of these elements are currently imported and unsustainably produced. So the European Commission has hatched a new plan for obtaining them within its borders, to make the industry more sustainable and resilient against outside disruptions. The commission has launched a […]
In Europe the top barriers to implementing the decision-making principle of “efficiency first” in energy system planning and policymaking turn out to be lack of political will, lack of expertise and awareness, professional cultures, die-hard personal habits, and overarching regulatory structure.
