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The government has launched a new Green Jobs Taskforce to support the creation of two million green jobs by 2030. To be chaired by Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan, The Green Jobs Taskforce, the group focuses on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero, including: Ensuring the...

The European Commission is seeking stakeholder views on placing sustainability at the centre of corporate governance framework, as announced in the European Green Deal and the Commission’s communication on the COVID-19 recovery plan.  Sustainability in corporate governance encompasses encouraging businesses to consider environmental (including climate, biodiversity), social, human and economic impact in their business decisions, and to focus on long-term sustainable value creation...

The Environmental Audit Committee is inviting evidence on tidal power as part of its Technological Innovations and Climate Change inquiry. This session of the inquiry will consider if various sources of tidal power, including tidal stream and tidal lagoons, could play a cost-effective role as part of the UK’s energy mix. As the country with the largest marine renewable resources in...

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has given councils across England a further £175 million to create safe spaces for cycling and walking. The new funds, part of the £2 billion announced for cycling and walking in May, will fund measures which will give people more opportunities to choose cycling and walking for their day-to-day journeys, including: ‘School Streets’, where streets around...

Major UK water and sewerage providers, including Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water and United Utilities, have unveiled a plan to deliver a net zero water supply for customers by 2030 in the world’s first sector-wide commitment of its kind. The Net Zero 2030 Routemap sets out the industry’s vision for how water companies, which together produce almost a third of UK industrial and...

The coronavirus lockdown led to dramatic changes in water consumption in England and Wales and some of these are likely to continue even after the pandemic, new research has found. Together with water consultancy Artesia, a team from The University of Manchester’s Department of Geography and the Sustainable Consumption Institute examined water use in both indoor and outdoor domestic spaces. The...

A new £3.5m round of the Circular Economy Fund to help boost Wales' shift towards a circular economy has opened for applications from local authorities and other publicly funded bodies. Following two successful previous rounds, the additional funding will support publicly funded bodies to deliver capital projects to support a green recovery by keeping materials in circulation for as long...

The Agriculture Bill, which sets out plans for UK's farming after Brexit, was passed into law today. The Agriculture Bill sets out the replacement of the subsidy regime provided through the EU's Common Agricultural Policy with a new Environmental Land Management scheme, where farmers and land managers in England will be rewarded for delivering 'public goods', such as as better...

A new Bill to modernise the government’s powers to investigate and intervene in potentially hostile foreign direct investment that threatens UK national security will be introduced by ministers today. Under the National Security and Investment Bill, the government will be taking a targeted, proportionate approach to ensure it can scrutinise, impose conditions on or, as a last resort, block a...

A new law has been introduced in the upcoming Environment Bill which will make it illegal for UK businesses to use key commodities if they have not been produced in line with local laws protecting forests and other natural ecosystems. The law will also mean businesses will need to be more transparent about where they source key commodities from, and...