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NEW research reveals that more than a quarter of a million UK primary school children are experiencing literary poverty. Literary poverty is defined by BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, as a child who is read to or with for pleasure, for less than 15 minutes a week outside of school. The study shows that 345,000 (14%) school children aged...

APPROXIMATELY 600 Environment Agency officers are deployed across England as flood warnings remain in place across the country, with ongoing flooding impacting parts of the West Midlands and Yorkshire. With unsettled weather conditions expected to continue over the weekend, communities are urged to check their flood risk and remain prepared to take action if needed. Heavy rainfall is expected to cause...

THE COP 26 agenda has been launched to help private finance support the whole economy transition to net zero. The objective of the new COP26 Private Finance Agenda is that every professional financial decision will need to take climate change into account. The right framework for reporting, risk management and returns will embed these considerations and help finance 'a whole economy...

Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund, the world’s biggest, welcomed a shift among European oil and gas firms towards greener policies yesterday. Top energy firms including BP, Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Norway’s Equinor have in pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the recent months and provide more information about their role in global warming. Many environmentalists argue the targets...

INFRASTRUCTURE spending must be set within a proper long term strategy in order to avoid repeating past mistakes and to face climate change, says the National Infrastructure Commission’s annual report published this week. The report notes a surge in recent announcements relating to infrastructure programmes, including approval for High Speed 2 and a decision on the preferred route for the...

THE ENERGY grid could become more resilient with the help of the world’s first National Timing Centre in the UK, Science Minister Amanda Solloway has announced. The new centre will see a team of researchers, based at sites across the UK, work together to make public services and the economy less reliant on satellites through a network of atomic clocks...

A FIRST of its kind project seeks to develop, integrate and scale a flexibility exchange that optimises renewable energy integration into the UK’s changing energy markets. Led by energy technology company Electron, the TraDER consortium brings together Community Energy Scotland, CGI, EDF, Elexon, Energy Systems Catapult, Kaluza and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, alongside other key players in the emerging...

SEVERAL sustainable and energy-efficient affordable home sites are in the pipeline at the South Hams District Council area in Devon. South Hams District Council is working in close partnership with a number of local community housing schemes around the District to deliver a mix of affordable, rented and discounted purchase sustainable homes. £1.88 million of funding is being used by the...

SWEDEN has become the latest nation to join the UK’s Global Ocean Alliance to help drive urgent action to safeguard the ocean and protect its wildlife. Increasing sea temperatures, deoxygenation, acidification, habitat loss, overfishing and pollution are all damaging the world’s marine environments, threatening marine life and habitats. The UK-led international coalition aims to tackle these impacts and safeguard at least...

DRAX has announced that almost 50 years of generating power from coal at its North Yorkshire station is expected to end next year. The company does not expect to use coal after March 2021 but will ensure its two remaining coal units remain available until September 2022 in line with its existing Capacity Market agreements. Over the last decade four of...