Jamie Carpenter

Claims in a BBC investigation that the UK’s fleet of energy-from-waste (EfW) plants now represent the “dirtiest way the UK generates power” following the demise of coal fail to take into account the emissions saved when the practice is compared to landfilling waste, according to industry bodies.

An internal review of DEFRA’s regulations is to take place with a focus on “growth”, according to an announcement that has seen mixed responses. Here’s what you need to know…

Only 37% of Europe’s surface water bodies are in ‘good’ or ‘high’ ecological status, a measure of aquatic ecosystem health, according to the latest official assessment of assessment of their health.

The government has named the UK’s first global envoy for nature, who will be tasked with supporting ministers to raise global ambition on nature recovery, as a major international biodiversity summit gets underway in Colombia.

Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has pledged to scrap carbon budgets if he makes it to Number 10, promising to sweep away the Climate Change Act and other major pieces of Blair and Brown-era legislation under a “Great Reform Act”.

Legislation to ban the sale of single-use vapes from 1 June 2025 has been laid in Parliament, DEFRA has announced, in a move described by ministers as the “first step on the road to a circular economy”.

Last year was among the five worst years for wildfires in Europe, according to a European Commission report. More than 500,000 hectares of land were burned, an area half the size of Cyprus, the report states, with 41% of the total burnt area in the EU affecting the Natura 2000 network, essential for biodiversity.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has welcomed the accord struck at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, saying it is the “start of a new era for climate finance” – but campaigners warn the deal falls far short of what is needed and have blasted the EU for showing a “troubling” lack of action and ambition.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has welcomed the accord struck at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, saying it is the “start of a new era for climate finance” – but campaigners warn the deal falls far short of what is needed and have blasted the EU for showing a “troubling” lack of action and ambition.

Official statistics published this week show that the number of bathing waters in England classified as ‘poor’ has more than doubled.