International: United Kingdom
Report calls for end of carbon gluttony
14 Apr 2021
The world’s wealthy must radically change their lifestyles to tackle climate change, a report says.
Where £100 can make you a solar entrepreneur
8 Apr 2021
In Bath, England, even the smallest investors can support – and profit from – the city’s green energy boom.
Frequent flyers should pay more
8 Apr 2021
Wealthy frequent flyers who take several holidays a year should pay higher taxes each time they fly, a British charity says.
UK groups demand peat compost ban
7 Apr 2021
The UK government must ban the sales of peat compost this year after its goal of a voluntary phaseout by 2020 proved an “abject failure”, according to a group of gardening experts, conservationists and scientists.
UK taken to task for ignoring Paris Agreement
31 Mar 2021
Prominent scientists and lawyers have said Britain's decision to ignore the Paris climate agreement when deciding on major infrastructure projects undermines its presidency of UN climate talks this year.
'Historic' climate bill due before NI Assembly
24 Mar 2021
Supporters of Northern Ireland's first climate bill say it is an "historic moment".
Appliances should last longer, says UK
12 Mar 2021
Tougher rules are being introduced to make appliances such as fridges, washing machines and TVs cheaper to run and last longer, says the British Government.
Eco-homes becoming hot property
8 Mar 2021
Smart, low-carbon homes were once the preserve of one-off grand designs, but now Britain has up to 30,000 projects in the pipeline.
Bank of England gets green remit
4 Mar 2021
The Bank of England’s remit has been changed to include a duty to support the country's net-zero carbon ambition.
Carbon tax would be popular with UK voters, poll suggests
25 Feb 2021
Taxing carbon dioxide emissions would be popular with British voters, polling suggests, as the government moots ways to put a price on carbon that could help tackle the climate crisis and fund a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Ditch GDP and value nature, says report
3 Feb 2021
Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history, says a report calling for a new economic framework recognising the importance of ecology.
Reformed trade rules could help save the climate
26 Jan 2021
Reformed trade rules could provide a climate dividend of the rancorous Brexit process of leaving the European Union.
Pressure mounts on UK to update its UN climate target
4 Dec 2020
Scotland and British businesses are piling pressure on the UK government to set an ambitious 2030 climate target ahead of a summit co-hosted by Britain and the UN on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.
UK scrambles to decide first post-Brexit climate pledge
1 Dec 2020
Britain is preparing to announce its first solo carbon-cutting pledge to the Paris climate agreement, in a tight political manoeuvre ahead of an ambition summit on December 12.
Scottish homes will use 100% green hydrogen in world first
1 Dec 2020
Scotland is set to start the world’s first trials of green hydrogen to replace natural gas for cooking and heating in 300 homes.
XR launches campaign of financial disobedience
24 Nov 2020
Extinction Rebellion is launching a campaign of financial civil disobedience aimed at exposing the “political economy’s complicity” in the unfolding ecological crisis.
Boomers are the greenest generation - study
23 Nov 2020
Parents and grandparents, not the so-called Generation Green, are the most likely groups to try to minimise their environmental footprint, a new study finds.
Billionaire investor forcing climate action from companies
23 Nov 2020
British billionaire Chris Hohn is aiming to force hundreds of US and European companies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions by enlisting global investors to demand an annual vote on their climate plans at shareholder meetings.
UK must stop sales of fossil-fuel cars by 2026
19 Nov 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to bring forward a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 10 years to 2030 will still not go far enough to meet the government’s own legally binding climate targets, according to new research.
Thousands of jobs from carbon-capture-and-storage
19 Nov 2020
Developing technology to capture and store harmful climate-changing emissions may create up to 49,000 jobs, a report suggests.
Floating turbines to power the future
18 Nov 2020
Wind turbines floating miles out to sea could one day provide electricity to our homes, experts believe.
Bank of England needs more powers to decarbonise economy, say experts
17 Nov 2020
Urgent reforms of the Bank of England are needed to help decarbonise the financial system and boost green investment as Britain recovers from the covid-19 pandemic, a group of leading academics has said.
UK expected to ban fossil-fuel cars by 2030
16 Nov 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, the Financial Times reports.
Farming faces 'historic' shift to cut GHG emissions
13 Nov 2020
Tackling greenhouse gas emissions in farming will require the biggest change since the shift from horses to tractors, a United Kingdom inquiry has found.
UK follows NZ on compulsory carbon disclosure
11 Nov 2020
Large companies and financial institutions in the UK will have to come clean about their exposure to climate risks within five years under the terms of a tougher regime announced.
Mandatory climate disclosure coming to UK companies...
20 Oct 2020
Current rules on company disclosures to help markets price in risks from climate change will become mandatory, a senior Bank of England official said on Friday.
...and investors say they want it
20 Oct 2020
An influential group of investors is urging UK regulators to make climate risk reporting mandatory for nearly 500 FTSE-listed firms.
Why Britain needs negative interest rates
19 Oct 2020
As Britain and the rest of Europe battle the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic, desperate eyes turn to central bank bosses, wondering what rescue plans they have up their sleeves.
UK finance minister wants a carbon tax
12 Oct 2020
British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is planning for a UK-wide carbon tax that could raise billions of pounds while encouraging the drive towards net-zero emissions.
Airport appeals court's climate ruling
9 Oct 2020
Heathrow appeared in front of the UK Supreme Court this week in a bid to overturn a judgment that blocked Europe’s busiest airport from expanding.
York's green-home revolution
5 Oct 2020
The English city of York plans to build Britain’s biggest zero-carbon housing project, boasting 600 homes in car-free cycling paradises full of fruit trees and allotments.
Public figures defend XR against 'organised crime' classification
14 Sep 2020
Stephen Fry, Mark Rylance and a former Archbishop of Canterbury are among 150 public figures to hit back at government moves to classify the climate protesters of Extinction Rebellion as an “organised crime group”.
Writers rebel against London thinktanks
4 Sep 2020
A group of artists and writers including Zadie Smith and Sir Mark Rylance have spoken out against the thinktanks and lobbyists at the heart of Westminster, gathering with hundreds of protesters near their offices on Wednesday night.
UK facing worst wheat harvest since 1980s, says farmers' union
18 Aug 2020
Britain's wheat harvest is likely to be down markedly this year, according to the National Farmers’ Union, capping a tumultuous year for British farming after consecutive seasons of extreme weather.
Scottish minister warns of climate challenge after Stonehaven crash
14 Aug 2020
The climate crisis is presenting increasing challenges for rail safety, senior transport figures have warned, as family and friends paid tribute to three people who died in a derailment in Aberdeenshire following thunderstorms and torrential rain.
Ban SUV adverts to meet climate goals, report urges
5 Aug 2020
Advertising of sports utility vehicles, which emit more greenhouse gases than other cars, should be banned so the UK can meet its climate goals, a report has said.
UK's biggest pension fund begins fossil fuels divestment
30 Jul 2020
The UK’s biggest pension fund, the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) scheme with nine million members, is to begin divesting from fossil fuels.
Make nature part of 'build, build, build' policy
27 Jul 2020
Instead of blaming protected newts for thwarting the “build, build, build” agenda, politicians and developers must incorporate green thinking into the design of new infrastructure, according to the chair of the UK government’s conservation watchdog.
Powerful backers support a UK nuclear future
16 Jul 2020
Insulating homes and installing renewable energy are the cheapest answers to climate change. Yet powerful backers urge a UK nuclear future.
UK premier faces court over covid-19 recovery
14 Jul 2020
Lawyers who stopped the expansion of Heathrow Airport because it would be bad for the climate are now turning their sights on Boris Johnson's covid-19 economic recovery plans.
Rare night clouds may be warning sign of climate crisis
9 Jul 2020
Something magical appeared at night over London and other parts of Britain last month: ripples of electric blue clouds shimmered in the twilight sky after sunset.
Nuclear plans flounder through muddy dispute
7 Jul 2020
Vast quantities of mud, which campaigners say might contain radioactive particles, are the latest problem to confront the UK’s nuclear plans for two new reactors under construction in the West of England.
Air pollution likely to make coronavirus worse
3 Jul 2020
Air pollution is probably increasing the number and severity of covid-19 cases and could be important to managing the pandemic, experts say.
UK heading for the heat
2 Jul 2020
The likelihood of the UK experiencing deadly 40deg temperatures for the first time is “rapidly accelerating” due to the climate crisis, scientists have found.
Border villagers prepare to dethrone the duke
26 Jun 2020
The 2300 villagers of Langholm, a Scottish settlement a few miles north of the English border, hope to buy one of the UK’s most famous grouse moors, owned by one of the Britain's most-powerful hereditary landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch.
Construction begins on biggest liquid air battery
19 Jun 2020
Construction is beginning on the world’s largest liquid air battery, which will store renewable electricity and reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power plants.
Unanswered questions dog new nuclear plans
15 Jun 2020
The French company EDF, a company in a hurry, wants permission to start building two more reactors in the United Kingdom, and it hopes to save money – by arranging for British taxpayers to pay the capital costs of its new nuclear plans.
Car industry pushes for scrappage scheme
8 Jun 2020
The UK car industry has been in confidential talks with the government over a possible £1.5 billion scrappage scheme that it insists should encourage the purchase of diesel and petrol cars on an equal footing with cleaner vehicles.
Startups invest $4bn in UK battery factory
21 May 2020
Two British startups have announced plans to invest as much as $4 billion in building the UK’s first large-scale battery factory, in a move that could prove a major boost to the country’s struggling car industry.
UK plutonium stockpile is a costly headache
24 Apr 2020
For 70 years Britain has been dissolving spent nuclear fuel in acid, separating the plutonium and uranium it contains and stockpiling the plutonium in the hope of finding some peaceful use for it, to no avail: all it has to show today is a UK plutonium stockpile.
Australia's Liberals elect net zero opponent as new leader
Mon 16 Feb 2026
Australia's opposition Liberal Party elected as leader on Friday a conservative who lobbied to drop its commitment to net zero emissions, as it seeks to counter an insurgent populist right and rebuild support after a disastrous election loss last year.
EPA boss offers forceful defence for scrapping landmark Obama climate policy
Today 11:30am
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is just following the law, he said Saturday in Munich, where he defended the Trump administration’s move this week to disengage the United States from decades of efforts to regulate climate change.
China starts sea trials for largest electric-powered container ship
Today 11:30am
China’s first 10,000-ton electric containership is beginning sea trials. The shipyard is billing the ship as the largest of its kind and a further breakthrough in short-sea shipping.
France bets on nuclear in new plan to cut fossil fuel imports
Mon 16 Feb 2026
The French government unveiled a 10-year energy strategy that leans heavily on nuclear power and offshore wind farms to curb fossil fuel dependence. Environmental groups criticised a 'stubborn insistence on believing in the nuclear myth'.
Mark Carney just picked his lane on climate change
Today 11:30am
COMMENT: Mark Carney's time as prime minister has been defined in part by his decision to roll back Trudeau-era climate policies.
Singapore sets first ever sustainable aviation fuel levy, as Southeast Asia’s fuel industry grows
Today 11:30am
Flying in and out of Singapore, home to Southeast Asia’s busiest airport, will get slightly more expensive this year as the city state begins imposing a levy of between 75 cents to $32 per ticket to fund sustainable aviation fuel.
Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore and seabirds
19 Dec 2025
Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules.
Warming climate threatens Greenland's ancestral way of life
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.
Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says
Mon 16 Feb 2026
A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Why Trump might be onboard with a UN carbon-offset programme for airlines
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The president’s team has backed the rollout of an initiative that calls for the use of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon credits, even as Trump has pulled back from other international emissions-reduction efforts.
