International: United Kingdom
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.
BoE under fire for deal with oil companies
20 Apr 2020
The Bank of England has been accused of failing to live up to its tough talk on the climate crisis after it revealed it would buy debt from oil companies as part of its coronavirus stimulus programme.
BOE eyes bank capital charge on polluting assets
13 Mar 2020
Britain’s first stress-test of the response of banks to climate change will help the Bank of England to determine if polluting assets should face “penalty” capital charges.
British Gas and VW unveil electric-vehicle deal
6 Mar 2020
British Gas has teamed up with Volkswagen to accelerate the rollout of its electric vehicles across UK roads by helping drivers to charge up at home at a lower price.
UK to introduce cleaner petrol
5 Mar 2020
The UK government is set to introduce E10 fuel containing 10 per cent ethanol as a new form of “cleaner” petrol aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
Farmers speak out on mental health
2 Mar 2020
Isolation and bad weather are compounding the strain from what UK farmers call the “anti-meat agenda”.
UK airports must shut to reach 2050 climate target
21 Feb 2020
All UK airports must close by 2050 for the country to reach its target of net zero climate emissions by then, scientists say.
Johnson promises urgent climate action
7 Feb 2020
Boris Johnson has promised “urgent action” on the climate crisis, taking personal leadership of this year’s UN climate talks after a blistering attack by the sacked former minister who was to lead them.
Guardian bans ads from fossil fuel firms
31 Jan 2020
The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels.
Airline probes 'fuei-tankering' allegation
13 Nov 2019
A major airline has launched a review into a money-saving practice which increases its greenhouse gas emissions.
XR eyes legal action over London ban
17 Oct 2019
Extinction Rebellion is eyeing a legal challenge after police placed a London-wide ban on the group’s ongoing climate protest.
TOMATO SOURCE: Hothouses will grow up to 20 tonnes a day
10 Oct 2019
Giant greenhouses will be used to grow up to 20 tonnes of tomatoes a day using the heat from water treatment facilities in the UK.
Universities sign landmark deal to buy renewable
8 Oct 2019
Twenty of the UK’s leading universities have struck a £50m deal to buy renewable energy directly from British windfarms for the first time.
Scotland takes aim at green red tape
4 Oct 2019
Developments that tackle climate change could avoid having to get planning permission, under proposals being considered by the Scottish government.
TURNING OF THE SCREW: Royal Shakespeare Company cuts BP
4 Oct 2019
The Royal Shakespeare Company is to end its sponsorship deal with BP amid growing opposition to fossil fuel sponsorship of cultural institutions.
UK to deploy special climate protest police
3 Oct 2019
British police will deploy specially trained climate protest officers to London this weekend to help to deal with two weeks of protests planned by Extinction Rebellion.
How Britain ended its coal addiction
2 Oct 2019
The UK was once the world’s largest coal consumer, but the highly polluting fossil fuel has been pushed out by renewable energy and natural gas.
Australian rainforests no longer a carbon sink – study
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Australia's tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday, linking the "very concerning" trend to climate change.
'We’re in God’s hands now': A dispatch from Western Alaska
Mon 20 Oct 2025
An immense disaster has wrought deep trauma on Western Alaska’s Indigenous residents and is raising existential questions about the future of their low-lying communities amid a changing climate and a tightening state budget.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
Thu 16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
EU plans support for countries affected by carbon border levy
Mon 20 Oct 2025
The European Union will offer development funding to countries affected by the bloc's carbon border tariff, the European Commission said on Thursday, as it attempts to soothe developing economies' concerns over the policy.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Indonesia restarts international carbon trade after four years
Fri 17 Oct 2025
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has issued a new decree to restart international carbon emission trading after a four year hiatus.
Familiar tensions emerge at the Pacific Islands Forum
26 Sep 2025
With China-Taiwan rivalry, China-Western competition, and big carbon emitters at odds with the islands on climate policy, there is plenty of tension to go around.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Angola lowers climate ambition in blow to spirit of Paris Agreement
14 Oct 2025
Angola has scaled back its targets for reducing emissions in its new national climate plan, saying it chose “realism and implementability” over the Paris Agreement's calls for governments to set progressively more ambitious goals.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
Wed 15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
New UN carbon market rules could reshape how investors value nature
Mon 20 Oct 2025
A debate over carbon permanence – how long CO2 must stay stored to count towards offsetting emissions – is reshaping global carbon markets and could determine whether nature remains investable.
