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Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, has launched two new initiatives to level up employment opportunities for women as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, commented: “The UK can only grasp its full potential by championing its brightest and best, and ensuring everyone, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed. “We believe that increased...

A survey of UK pension funds, representing total assets under management of c£150bn, reveals that just over 50% hold some form of impact investment (an investment that is focused on positive social or environmental outcomes, as well as a financial return). The research, conducted by Pensions for Purpose and sponsored by Big Society Capital, shows that UK pension funds are...

Loughborough University has just completed a key part of a £4m project funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), called the Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings (SMETER) Innovation Programme. The £1.1m scheme, carried out in partnership with Halton Housing, Leeds Beckett University and UCL, tested and developed eight different meters that measure thermal performance in...

Households and businesses across England are set to benefit from greener heating as the £288 million Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) will open to public, private and third sector applicants in England on 14 March 2022. Heat networks offer carbon emissions savings by supplying heat to buildings from a central source, avoiding the need for households and workplaces to rely...

The second round of the non-household market’s Market Improvement Fund (MIF) is now open and accepting bids. MOSL, the market operator for the non-household retail market in England, is facilitating MIF on behalf of the Strategic Panel, funding projects that can make a positive impact on the market and deliver benefits to business customers. Individuals or groups can apply for between...

The European Commission has presented its Communication on Decent Work Worldwide, which reaffirms European Union's commitment to champion decent work, with a particular focus on the elimination of child labour and forced labour. As part of this approach, the Commission is preparing a new legislative instrument to effectively ban products made by forced labour from entering the EU market, as...

Hundreds of thousands of trees are set to be planted in communities across England as applications for the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund reopen for applications. Over £9 million will be allocated to successful applicants across both funds, which form part of the government’s wider drive to treble tree planting rates across England by the...

Heads of State, Ministers of environment and other representatives from 175 nations have endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi to end plastic pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal. “This is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the...

People and ecosystems least able to cope with human-induced climate change are being hardest hit, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. “This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC commented on the report. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing...

People who are part of, or wishing to enter a land or nature-based industry, can apply for funding support to gain practical skills required to respond to the climate change challenge. Supported by Scottish Government funding of up to £250,000 and administered by Lantra Scotland, the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Practical Training Fund is open to applications for those...