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Six billion payments cards are produced each year, typically from PVC. These cards are replaced on average every three to four years, with discarded cards going to landfills across the world. Mastercard has addressed this, and growing concern among consumers regarding single-use plastics, by developing a sustainable card program for card issuers across the globe. A new directory of sustainable materials and...

New design toolkit commissioned by NHS England focuses on healthier communities. Called Building for a Healthy Life, New Homes England is backing the new design guidance, which encourages healthier lifestyles to be planned into new housing developments. The new guidelines are published by Design for Homes and Urban Design Doctor and were officially launched this week. The design toolkit covers priorities including...

Cabinet councillors have agreed a revised timetable and format for next steps in developing Lewes District Council’s climate change and sustainability strategy. In July 2019, the council declared a Climate Emergency with a headline target of becoming a fully resilient and net-zero council by 2030 and supporting Lewes district towards achieving the same goal. Since then, the council has been working...

TWEMLOWS Solar Farm near Whitchurch is reportedly to be managed by a newly formed community energy group. The 10MW scheme was built in 2015 using private finance but new home has been then sought for it in the community sector. The new managers, Shropshire & Telford Community Energy (STCE), has been founded as a Community Benefit Society to develop and own...

CARDIFF University engineers are leading a pan-European project to explore the feasibility of enhancing carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in European coal seams. State-of-the-art technology will be used to create a horizontal ‘well system’ at specialist research facilities in Mikołów, Poland, enabling engineers to monitor the rate of uptake of CO2 into the coal seams as well as assess and manage...

AN INITIATIVE designed to help Essex residents reduce their gas and electricity bills saved an average of £258 for each of the 1,644 households who took part. The Essex Energy Switch was delivered for the seventh time by Essex County Council between December 2019 and March 2020. The Essex Energy Switch is a county wide collective energy switching campaign designed to...

A nationwide scheme has been launched to help tackle climate change by encouraging residents to invest in their local councils. The programme, based on University of Leeds research, aims to fund environmentally-friendly projects, generate jobs and create more appealing interest rates for savers. The first of six pilot projects for local government green bonds has been unveiled by West Berkshire Council...

A new report assessing the regulatory landscape for sustainability reporting has found that environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure has never been more pervasive globally – and is now firmly in the mainstream of disclosure on organisational performance. As the market implications of certain ESG topics become more evident, interest in the quality of disclosures is also sharpening. The fifth edition...

CONCERNS over net zero and energy industry jobs have been raised by the industry as Ofgem has begun consultation on its RIIO-2 draft determination. RIIO, standing for Revenues, Incentives, Innovation and Outputs, is Ofgem's approach to ensuring the monopoly companies who run the regulator’s gas and electricity networks have enough revenue to run an efficient network. Ofgem introduced RIIO-1 for the...

Southampton City Council has approved plans to deliver hundreds of much-needed new homes across the city in an investment programme worth an estimated £144m. Addressing housing demand in the city, the council will deliver 100% affordable living in a combination of social, affordable and shared ownership schemes, which will give Southampton residents the opportunity to also get onto the property...