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Anglian Water has launched a Sustainable Finance Framework which will underpin the delivery of its capital programme for 2020-2025. Under this Framework the water company will be able to issue various funding instruments referred to as sustainable transactions. These include Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds, private placements and leases, all of which integrates environmental and social criteria into investment decisions, allowing...

The European Commission has published its Renovation Wave Strategy to improve the energy performance of buildings. The Commission aims to at least double renovation rates in the next ten years and make sure renovations lead to higher energy and resource efficiency. This will enhance the quality of life for people living in and using the buildings, reduce Europe's greenhouse gas emissions, foster digitalisation...

Water companies which make better use of bioresources activities – transporting, treating, recycling and disposing wastewater sludge to develop low carbon energy, could provide real benefits to customers, society and the environment. Ofwat has required companies to publish information to facilitate the market since 2018 and at its most recent price review (PR19), it changed the way it regulates, for...

A group of water companies have vowed to invest millions of pounds to protect the country’s chalk streams by reducing the amount of water they abstract from them for public drinking supply and cutting pollution. The pledge was made at an online Chalk Stream Summit organised by the Chalk Rivers Action Group (CRAG) and attended by Water Minister, Rebecca Pow,...

Earlier today during the BloombergNEF Summit, Audrey Zibelman, CEO of the Australia Energy Market Operator (AEMO) announced the launch of the Global Power System Transformation Consortium (G-PST). Speaking during the European Energy Infrastructure in Transition Session, Ms Zibelman highlighted the need for a major global collaborative effort in overcoming technical barriers related to the integration of clean energy into power...

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has launched an inquiry examining the path to decarbonising heating in homes. To reach the Government’s net zero target, all buildings need to be decarbonised by 2050. In practice this means achieving a very high standard of energy efficiency and switching to heating through zero-carbon (or very low-carbon) sources. Decarbonising heat is widely...

The Energy Price Cap seeks to shield those least likely to shop around for the best deals, including the elderly and most vulnerable, from being charged excessive prices. Since its introduction in January 2019, the cap has saved customers around £1 billion a year, equivalent to around £75-100 a year for typical households on default energy tariffs. An additional 4 million...

Ofgem is introducing new licence rules for suppliers from 15 December to strengthen protections for customers who are struggling to pay their energy bills this winter. In June 2020, Ofgem published a statutory consultation on Self-disconnection and self-rationing final proposals. Today’s decision confirms Ofgem has decided to proceed with the proposals set out in the statutory notice. Philippa Pickford, Director of Retail...

The Environmental Audit Committee has chosen to revisit the issues from its 2018 inquiry, Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, due to continued concerns around the environmental impact of the fashion industry and working conditions in UK garment factories. The Government rejected most of the Committee’s recommendations in 2019, which ranged from a producer responsibility charge to pay for better...

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee is set to investigate whether the Government will be able to meet its new goal of increasing tree planting to 30,000 hectares a year by 2025. In January, the Committee on Climate Change recommended increasing UK forestry cover to 17% by 2050- an increase of two-fifths of the land area currently covered...