News

After three years of research and a week of haggling between scientists and government officials at a meeting in South Korea, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5C. Their dramatic report on keeping that rise under 1.5 degrees C says the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards 3C.  Keeping to the preferred target of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels will mean "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society". It will be hugely expensive - but the window of opportunity remains open. 

In late June the UK Committee for Climate Change published its annual report to Parliament on how we are progressing towards legally-binding emissions reduction targets. The Climate Change Act is UK-wide and the report provides details on greenhouse gas emissions for each part of the country. The report shows that despite targets for greenhouse gas reductions, last year Northern Ireland saw an increase in emissions. The report warns that unless action is taken now, the public faces an unnecessarily expensive deal to make the shift to a low-carbon economy.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be placed at the heart of the UK's Brexit strategy, according to a new report stating that government policy is performing inadequately across three-quarters of the targets listed under goals. The report, published 3 July by the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), gathered insight from more than 100 businesses, charities, trade unions and government agencies to outline current legislative actions against the SDGs.

In a bid to combat toxic air levels polluting the capital, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has moved to increase the number of electric double-deckers in London more than ten-fold, with the vehicles set to be added to Transport for London’s (TfL) fleet in summer 2019.