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TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps has announced the winners of a national competition to make the railways cleaner, greener and more passenger-friendly. The Department for Transport, in partnership with Innovate UK, has awarded 25 pioneering projects a share of £9.4 million in the 2020 First of a Kind (FOAK) competition, which encourages innovation in the rail industry. Mr Shapp commented: "I am delighted...

THE WORLD'S largest and first commercial liquid air battery facility is planned for Trafford in Greater Manchester, creating over 200 jobs. Backed by £10 million of government investment, the CryoBattery project will be run by energy storage company Highview and will help the UK make the most of the energy generated from its solar and wind sectors. The CryoBattery offers a...

THREE companies connected to bogus sustainable energy processing schemes have been wound-up in court after eliciting at least £525,000 from investors. Elcourt Ltd, WSR Hawker Ltd and Devo Group Ltd were wound up in the public interest on 9 June in the High Court before Judge Prentis. The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the companies. In considering the petitions,...

A NEW campaign has called on the government to include large-scale heat pumps in its plans for the future of low carbon heat, Association for Decentralised Energy has announced. The Pump It Up campaign said the government’s proposals under the ‘Future of low carbon heat’ consultation would “impose an effective ban on large-scale heat pump projects, with proposed support restricted...

THE SOLAR Trade Association is calling for the Government to commit to a target of 40GW of solar capacity by 2030 in a letter to Alok Sharma. The Association has also published a new policy paper which outlines how this can be achieved, and contribute to the green recovery. Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Solar Trade Association, commented on the announcement:...

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a major review of the European Union's trade policy, including a public consultation seeking input from the European Parliament, Member States, stakeholders and civil society. The Commission's objective is to build a consensus around a fresh medium-term direction for EU trade policy, responding to a variety of new global challenges and taking into account the...

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Audit Committee is concerned that the Government is failing properly to tackle climate change within its largest carbon emitter, the NHS. Within the report published in September 2019, the Committee urged the Government to end coal and oil powered heating at NHS sites and to take action on fluorinated gases. Decarbonising sites is paramount if the Government is to...

UNILEVER has set out a new range of measures and commitments designed to achieve Net Zero emissions from all their products by 2039. To accelerate action towards this, Unilever’s brands will collectively invest €1 billion in a new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund. This will be used over the next ten years to take 'meaningful and decisive action', with projects likely...

GREEN number plates are set to be rolled out from autumn, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed today, under plans to drive a green economic recovery. As part of the government’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, drivers will be encouraged to make the switch to electric vehicles through the introduction of green number plates. The plates will make it...

NEW research focusing on the UK and Sweden demonstrates just how far even ‘climate progressive’ nations are from meeting our international commitments to avoid dangerous climate change. The researchers concluded that despite the UK and Sweden claiming to have world-leading climate legislation, their planned reductions in emissions will still be two to three times greater than their fair share of...