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Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is seeking views to inform further development of possible options for future reform of combined heat and power policy. Combined heat and power (CHP) is an efficient cogeneration process able to use a wide variety of fuel sources, capturing and utilising the heat that is produced in power generation. Government currently provides support to...

The COP26 climate conference in November provides a major opportunity for the UK to make every endeavour to build an international consensus on the role of pension schemes in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and to push towards global harmonisation of climate-related financial disclosures, according to the Work and Pensions Committee. In a new report, the Committee makes...

From today, all companies bidding for government contracts worth more than £5m a year must commit to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050. The UK is the first country in the world to put such a measure in place, and this policy will apply to all central government departments, as well as their Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. The new...

The Government must strengthen its own sustainable procurement policies, and it should be illegal for UK businesses to use deforestation-linked commodities, if the UK is to demonstrate global leadership to protect nature, the Environmental Audit Committee states in a new report. MPs are concerned that a number of other commodities linked to deforestation, responsible for nature decline, are spiralling, such...

Consultations have been launched on plans to modernise water abstraction and enhance the Environment Agency's powers to protect groundwater. The Government has unveiled proposals to improve water quality and regulate activities that affect water supplies. The changes are designed to: modernise the system of licensing water abstraction – when water is taken from the environment for use in farming, food manufacturing...

In the latest stage of its Technological Innovation and Climate Change inquiry, the Environmental Audit Committee has launched a call for evidence on negative emissions technologies (NETs). Negative emissions technologies are mechanisms for the absorption and storage of carbon and other atmospheric greenhouse gases. According to the Committee, these technologies are considered to be key to attaining net zero carbon emissions...

In July, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to provide advice to government on how the tools available under competition and consumer law can better support Net Zero and sustainability goals, including preparing for climate change, by early 2022. The Secretary of State asked: Whether, and...

Northern Ireland has launched their first-ever Rural Community Pollinator Scheme to improve the health of bees and pollinators, with the grants wholly provided by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The grants are being promoted through the Live Here Love Here collaborative partnership, involving DAERA, ten local councils, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. The pilot scheme...

Future developments in Wales will have to take into account future flooding and coastal erosion risk caused by climate change, the Welsh Government has confirmed. In a UK-first, developers will have to work with flood risk and coastal erosion maps that not only show current risk levels, but also the risk posed by climate change. The new planning policy advice known...

A new inquiry into carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) has been announced by the Environmental Audit Committee. If adopted by the UK Government in the future, according to the Committee, a CBAM could crack down on the carbon footprint of many imported goods and address carbon leakage. The new inquiry will look at the role CBAMs could play in preventing carbon...