Environmental Policies

Housing Over the Environment?

Housing Over the Environment?

Housing over the environment? Is a question posed by the publication last week by the government of an 82-page National Planning Policy Framework report outlining what it hopes to do – and how. It is subject to publicconsultation, but there are serious concerns that housing will take priority over nature and the environment, The Guardian reports. Changes …

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Plastic Free at Christmas

Plastic free at Christmas

Plastic Free at Christmas is one of the campaigns of local action group Plastic Free Settle. This comes in the same week as a UN conference on a proposed treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach agreement despite representatives of 200 nations meeting in Busan, South Korea. Settle’s Plastic Free Group is working on …

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Drax will raise carbon emissions

No more subsidies for Drax

Drax will raise carbon emissions as thousands marched in London yesterday demanding action on polluted water. The Guardian reported earlier today that Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research. An earlier study …

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Crunch time for climate

Crunch time for climate

Crunch time for climate says UN as a massive global mobilisation of renewable energy, forest protection and other measures is needed to prevent the world reaching a catastrophic temperature rise of 3.1C, a report from the UN environment programme (Unep) has found. It says that current carbon-cutting promises by countries for 2030 are not being …

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Burning household rubbish – a disaster

Burning household rubbish

Burning household rubbish a “disaster for the climate” the BBC reports having just released a major investigation into incineration.  It found that nearly half of the rubbish produced in UK homes, including increasing amounts of plastic, is now being incinerated. Scientists warn it is a “disaster for the climate” – and some are calling for a …

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Drax to Pay Fine

Drax to pay fine of £25m after it was found to have failed to report accurate data on the type of material it burned at its site in North Yorkshire. As previously reported on this web site, Britain’s biggest power station, which provides about 5% of the UK’s electricity, receives large government subsidies for burning …

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Record Fine for Yorkshire Water

Record Fine for Yorkshire Water

Record Fine for Yorkshire Water as the company is among three water firms facing record £168m fines. With sewerage spillages into England’s seas and rivers more than doubling last year, Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water and Thames Water face £168m combined fines by the industry regulator over historic sewage spillages, the BBC News web site reports. …

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