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LESLEY Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, illustrated the possibilities created by low carbon energy future for Wales in her recent speech. In December 2018, Ms Griffiths published a response to the Welsh Government’s Call for Evidence on Locally Owned Renewable Energy, which committed to publishing a position statement on the issue. On 18 February she announced the publication...

PLANS for a third runway at Heathrow Airport are now under doubt as Court of Appeal ruled in favour of its opponents on environmental grounds. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a coalition comprised of local authorities, including Hillingdon Council, together with Greenpeace, the Mayor of London, Plan B and Friends of the Earth. They argued that Chris Grayling...

ENVIRONMENT Minister Edwin Poots has announced that 24 green projects across Northern Ireland will share £2.2m generated by the carrier bag levy. The Environment Fund 2020/21 uses the proceeds of the carrier bag levy (introduced in April 2013) to enable not-for-profit organisations and councils to deliver key environmental outcomes. A total of 24 organisations will receive grants for their projects which...

A NEW partnership seeks to design the largest smart city regeneration project in the UK. The £2m Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure project scheme, which is being led by Peterborough Council, will cut energy bills and provide green heat, electricity and transport for residents. Combining a next generation heat network, electricity network and electric vehicle infrastructure under one holistic scheme, the two-year...

LIVERPOOL now boasts the biggest eco-friendly fleet of refuse vehicles in the UK as new compressed natural gas wagons start their service. The 20-strong biomethane-powered fleet will help to cut City Council’s carbon footprint by producing 80 per cent fewer carbon emissions and 90 per cent less Nitrogen Oxide than the previous diesel vehicles, with each new wagon covering more...

A MAJOR new scheme which aims to empower communities to bring nature ‘to your doorstep’ and help halt and reverse the decline in nature was launched by Welsh government today. In partnership with Keep Wales Tidy, over 800 pre-paid ‘Starter packages’ are being made available to communities across Wales. The packages include items like native plants and seeds, peat-free compost, tools...

A NEW Sustainable Packaging Academy will provide businesses with the opportunity to better understand packaging circularity and future-proof packaging design. Veolia’s new initiative offers a new route for industry to achieve a real circular economy for all types of packaging and ensure materials can be easily collected, recycled and returned to industry for re-use. Richard Kirkman, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer,...

THE TREASURY has appointed James Heath as the new CEO of the National Infrastructure Commission. The new Chief Executive will lead the Commission’s secretariat of around 40 staff at a 'pivotal time for the organisation.' The government is due to publish its National Infrastructure Strategy shortly as a formal response to the Commission’s first-ever National Infrastructure Assessment published in July 2018,...

THE GOVERNMENT has written to the Coventry City Council in support of local proposals setting out measures to reduce Nitrogen Dioxide emissions in the city instead of establishing a specific clean air zone. This means Coventry does not need a Class D-charging Clean Air Zone, which would have seen higher emission vehicles charged for entering a large area of the...

SEVERN Trent is trialling the use of fibre optic cables inside its pipes in a bid to reduce the number of leaks and bursts across its network. The Midlands-based water company recently installed 750m of fibre optic cable inside a live section of its network, to test its ‘listening’ capabilities over a four-hour period, where the effects of leaks were...