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Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is seeking views on the proposed operational cost budgets and resulting levies for the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) and the Electricity Settlements Company (ESC) for the years 2022/2023 to 2024/2025 in a new consultation. The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) enters into and manages Contracts for Difference (CfD) with low carbon...

The government has been urged to improve its work in the fight against modern slavery following a review by an independent aid watchdog which scored the work ‘Amber/Red’ on its traffic light scale. Amber/Red is defined by the watchdog, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), as ‘unsatisfactory achievement in most areas, with some positive elements’. The Chair of the Sub-Committee...

The government has announced that it would back a new five-year review to monitor women’s representation in the upper rungs of FTSE companies, namely The FTSE Women Leaders Review, and encourage firms to open up opportunities to everyone. According to the government, research has found that having diversity at the top can improve companies’ profitability, and government is eager to...

Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters, has announced an additional £150 million to retrofit social homes with new technologies and insulation to help curb Wales' emissions. Speaking at a press conference, the Deputy Minister explained how the Welsh Government’s ‘Optimised Retrofit Programme’ will assess what technologies work best in individual homes to ensure 'optimum energy efficiency, value for money...

A 190-strong coalition of countries and organisations, including Poland, Vietnam, Egypt, Chile and Morocco, have announced 'clear commitments' to phase out coal power at COP26 today. Today’s commitments, brought together through UK-led efforts including the new ‘Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement’, encompass developed and developing countries, major coal users and climate vulnerable countries. Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng...

National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is launching 'a world-first' programme to build a digital replica of the entire GB energy landscape, creating a virtual environment to share data, model and predict scenarios that support the decarbonisation of the energy system. According to the creators, the Virtual Energy System will be a digital twin of the existing physical energy system,...

UK government joins 37 international partners from six continents to welcome the establishment of the IFRS Foundation’s new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) at COP26. The IFRS Foundation has announced the establishment of an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop comprehensive global baseline sustainability reporting standards under robust governance and public oversight. The IFRS Foundation confirmed consolidation of two sustainability...

UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, has today launched a call to action to businesses across the country to take advantage of renewable export opportunities around the world in the race to net zero at the COP26 conference in Glasgow. Green trade is set to be worth £1.8 trillion by 2030, delivering up to £170 billion of...

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out the UK’s plans to become the world’s first net zero aligned financial centre and welcomed “historic” climate commitments from private companies covering $130 trillion of financial assets as he hosts Finance Day at COP26 today. These commitments are set to help create a huge pool of cash that could fund our net zero transition,...

Education and Welsh Language Minister Jeremy Miles has announced that all new school and college buildings, major refurbishment and extension projects will be required to meet Net Zero Carbon targets from January 1 2022. Buildings will be required to be Net Zero Carbon in operation, which means producing zero or negative carbon emissions as part of their operational energy. The Minister...