Environment news

• Small but mighty, Pacific states have led the charge for banning nuclear weapons | Emily Defina

  21-01-2021 20:00
  
  A global treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons becomes international law today. But the fight to rid the world of these dismal weapons continues.In 1995, thousands of people marched peacefully hand-in-hand through the Tahitian capital of Pape’ete. The palm-lined streets were awash with songs of protest.On a nearby shorefront, Cook Islanders had just arrived by traditional voyaging canoe: a vaka. They were there to deliver a message of solidarity with their island neighbours, en route to the n
  
  Read more

• Exeter to play host to UK's first national circular economy 'hub'

  21-01-2021 17:08
  
  UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is investing £3.5m to create a new circular economy hub at the University of Exeter, which will be used to coordinate research and development across the country.
  
  Read more

• Legal bid to stop UK building Europe's biggest gas power plant fails

  21-01-2021 16:34
  
  Plan has been approved despite environmental objections and criticism over climate leadership A legal challenge to the UK government’s approval of a new gas-fired power plant has failed in the court of appeal.The challenge was brought after ministers overruled climate change objections from the planning authority. The plant is being developed by Drax in North Yorkshire and would be the biggest gas power station in Europe. It could account for 75% of the UK’s power sector emissions wh
  
  Read more

• Climate change: Trump's Paris withdrawal was 'reckless' - John Kerry

  21-01-2021 16:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US Special Envoy on climate John Kerry says President Trump's Paris pull-out endangered lives.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• #SustyTalk: UPS's Claire Thompson-Sage on low-carbon logistics

  21-01-2021 16:13
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with an exclusive discussion with UPS's sustainable development co-ordinator, Claire Thompson-Sage.
  
  Read more

• Tesco's first sustainability-linked bond more than six times oversubscribed

  21-01-2021 14:41
  
  Tesco attracted more than Є5bn of investor demand for its first sustainability-linked bond (SLB), priced at Є750m, according to official advisor BNP Paribas.
  
  Read more

• 'Our futures are at stake': sport's climate crisis weakness and how to change it

  21-01-2021 13:43
  
  Athletes don’t want to be accused of hypocrisy but the changing environment is already impacting many sportsFor a sector of society so adept at harnessing communities, cities, even entire countries, sport is strangely weak at empowering action on the issue which matters most. Perhaps the pace of sport, the relentless rotation of preparing, travelling and performing, restrains us from stopping, breathing and thinking about the existence of sport as we know it.Having globe-hopped for 25 year
  
  Read more

• Building a green economy could stop ‘nightmare’ degradation of Amazon

  21-01-2021 12:30
  
  US scientist Thomas Lovejoy says the rainforest’s rich biodiversity has been undervalued compared to economic activities such as farming and miningThe Amazon will be transformed into a “highly degraded nightmare” unless a sustainable biodiversity-based economy develops which properly values ecosystem services and products produced by the rainforest, a leading scientist has warned.Prof Thomas Lovejoy, the “godfather of biodiversity”, said if agro-industrial economic
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Tennent's invests £7m to remove plastic packaging from beer cans

  21-01-2021 12:25
  
  Scottish brewer Tennent's is investing £7m into new packaging technology at its Glasgow-based brewery which will remove more than 100 million plastic rings from its lager can packs by 2022.
  
  Read more

• 'No more broken treaties': indigenous leaders urge Biden to shut down Dakota Access pipeline

  21-01-2021 11:00
  
  Tribes and environmentalists hail decision to cancel Keystone XL pipeline but call on president to go furtherIndigenous leaders and environmentalists are urging President Joe Biden to shutdown some of America’s most controversial fossil fuel pipelines, after welcoming his executive order cancelling the Keystone XL (KXL) project.Activists praised Biden’s decision to stop construction of the transnational KXL oil pipeline on his first day in the White House, but they stressed that he m
  
  Read more

• Major gas grid companies team up to outline hydrogen deployment plans

  21-01-2021 10:51
  
  Britain's five major gas grid companies have launched a major collaborative plan to create the UK's first hydrogen town by 2030 as well as creating a network of hydrogen refuelling stations for transport and helping to decarbonise industrial clusters.
  
  Read more

• Biden returns US to Paris Agreement as part of climate policy overhaul

  21-01-2021 10:13
  
  In one of his first acts after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America, Joe Biden moved to readmit the US back into the Paris Agreement, claiming that tackling the climate crisis, racial inequality and current coronavirus pandemic were the "gravest responsibilities" that countries face.
  
  Read more

• 'A game-changing opportunity to fight climate change': WEF pushes businesses on supply chain decarbonisation

  21-01-2021 09:30
  
  The World Economic Forum (WEF) is urging businesses to do more to tackle their supply chain emissions, which often represent the bulk of their total climate footprint, and has published new advice on how to do so.
  
  Read more

• Country diary: the power of water in the valley

  21-01-2021 06:30
  
  St Dominic, Tamar valley: Rainfall may have destroyed the weir, but there are still old methods present to pump water back uphill The beat of a hydraulic ram reverberates along the deep ditch, running fast with spring water towards a little tributary originating from beneath Viverdon Down. The water joins other streams along the incised course through steep woods and pastures before meeting the tidal Tamar, more than two miles downstream. Last month’s exceptional run-off along this network
  
  Read more

• Elephants counted from space for conservation

  21-01-2021 01:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Satellite imagery is being used to count elephants in a breakthrough that could aid conservation.
  
  Read more

• Developed nations accused of over-reporting climate adaptation finance by billions

  21-01-2021 01:16
  
  Wealthy nations have exaggerated figures around how much finance they have provided to developing countries for climate adaptation, with up to $20bn less spent than promised between 2013 and 2017.
  
  Read more

• Unilever sets supply chain living wage aim and €2bn diversity commitment

  21-01-2021 01:01
  
  Unilever has today (21 January) unveiled a raft of new commitments aimed at building a more equitable and inclusive society by vowing to ensure the people across its value chain earn at least a living wage by 2030 and spending €2bn annually with suppliers consisting of under-represented groups by 2025.
  
  Read more

• Heinz removes plastics from canned product packaging

  21-01-2021 01:01
  
  Heinz is replacing plastic shrink-wrap packaging across its multipack canned products for sustainably certified paperboard, a move which will reduce the company's plastics footprint by 550 tonnes.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!