Since Brexit, environmental policy is increasingly being implemented via statutory instruments (SIs), which have been used to transpose EU law into UK law. They cover almost every aspect of the environment, from chemicals to wildlife to fisheries.
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This post is by Cait Hewitt, deputy director of the Aviation Environment Federation.
Scientists in America have found a way to massively reduce emissions from flying by using a new fuel made from waste, a BBC news headlines announced on 15 March. It sounded like the kind of scientific breakthrough that almost everyone would want to see: tackling waste and reducing emissions while allowing people to carry on flying. In fact, the story went on to report, the new fuel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 165 per cent suggesting that one way to lower emissions would be to fly more.
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This post is by Steve Chambers, sustainable transport campaigner at Transport for New Homes.
In 2018, Transport for New Homes produced an initial report that revealed the deep flaws in the planning system which leave new housing developments with inadequate walking, cycling and public transport connections to surrounding areas. With limited facilities locally, residents are, for the most part, forced into car dependency.
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This post is by Tom Wills, project manager – corporate accountability and trade at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
Last month, the European Union took a major step towards passing a new law to stop businesses from abusing human rights and destroying the environment around the world. The EU’s proposed ‘corporate due diligence’ law would help to tackle the widespread abuse of workers and the environment in the supply chains of European companies. This progress in Europe accentuates the failure of the UK government to take similar action.
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Nyeleti Brauer-Maxaeia, co-founder of Choked Up
For a young person, living in an area with extremely high air pollution that far exceeds World Health Organization guidelines can feel like an inescapable burden. It is the prospect that you have little control over the air you breathe. I mean, you can’t just opt in or out of breathing.
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In just a few short months this year, world leaders will assemble at two landmark conferences to hammer out solutions to the two biggest environmental challenges facing the planet. The COP15 Biodiversity Summit in Kunming in October will be the first since the 2010 Aichi summit which agreed 20 biodiversity targets (none of which have been delivered). Hot on its heels, the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November will be the first major coming together of nations since the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
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This post is by Jessica Sinclair-Taylor, head of policy and media at Feedback.
A recent letter, organised by Nourish Scotland and signed by a number of organisations (including Feedback) and city governments, has asked COP26 President Alok Sharma to clear some space for food system debates on the agenda at the Glasgow climate summit this year. As the letter points out, the intimate links between nature, cutting and storing carbon, and food production, are not receiving the attention they deserve.
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This post is by Oliver Lord, head of policy and campaigns for Environmental Defense Fund Europe.
The pandemic has revealed the consequences of health inequity. We must learn from this by enabling everyone to use greener transport and ensuring we all have clean air to breathe, regardless of who we are and where we live.
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This post is by Steve Arnold, head of the clean air zone at Birmingham City Council.
Everybody, regardless of age, geographic location or personal wealth, has a right to breathe clean air. It is a basic, fundamental entitlement and one that is vital to our survival. Yet every year, up to 36,000 people across the UK die from conditions linked to poor air quality, including up to 1,000 people in Birmingham alone.
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This post is by Angela Hultberg, head of sustainable mobility at IKEA Retail (Ingka Group)
E-commerce is soaring. It already was pre-pandemic, and during 2020 it has risen to entirely new levels. Online shopping has the potential to be the more sustainable choice, avoiding emissions from going to the store, or even several stores. But is that potential realised today?
