Prince Harry: Africa’s ‘natural beating heart’ needs to be protected from oil and gas drilling October 15, 2021 Prince Harry has said an area known as a “natural beating heart” of southern Africa must be protected with a moratorium on oil and gas drilling. Starting with rivers in Angola, the Okavango flows through Namibia’s Kavango region to a delta in Botswana, with Harry describing it in 2019 as “this magnificent last Eden”. In [...]
Xi set to snub summit on climate crisis October 15, 2021 Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the COP26 climate conference in person. The Times has reported that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already been told of Xi’s upcoming absence. The UK is hosting the global summit in Glasgow later this month and over a hundred world leaders are expected to show up. It [...]
Irritated Queen about COP26 in Glasgow: ‘I still don’t know who is coming’ October 15, 2021 The Queen has appeared to suggest she is irritated by a lack of action in tackling the climate crisis, and the monarch still has no clue who will attend the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow. Her remarks emerged in clips of a conversation filmed on a phone camera during a trip to Cardiff for the [...]
UK secures £5.8bn of foreign investment for green projects October 15, 2021 As COP26 fast approaches, around 5.8bn of foreign investment has been injected into the UK’s green projects since November last year. It comes alongside some 56,000 new jobs in the UK’s clean and renewables industries, the government said today. The fresh figures follow prime minister Boris Johnson’s ten point plan for a ‘green industrial revolution’ [...]
Net zero: ”Failure to deliver’ is still very much on the cards’, says new HSBC report October 14, 2021 The UK’s manufacturing industry, which produces 12 per cent of the country’s carbon emissions, is in desperate need of financing to reach net zero, according to a new report. The report, by the University College London and supported by HSBC, has urged that the manufacturing sector – a key driver in the UK economy – [...]
Sustainability: ‘Who is ultimately accountable? The board and the CEO’ October 14, 2021 A business’ board and chief executive are the ones ultimately accountable for creating a sustainable company with COP26 on the horizon, according to DS Smith’s sustainability lead. “Sustainability should, as a function, should make itself superfluous,” said Wouter van Tol, head of sustainability at the London listed packaging giant. Speaking at a sustainability roundtable earlier [...]
Volvo launches world’s first fossil-free steel vehicle October 13, 2021 Volvo Group launched today the world’ first vehicle made of fossil-free steel, announcing that more will follow in 2022 as part of the company’s pathway to reach net zero by 2050. Made in collaboration with Swedish company SSAB – which specialises in transforming raw materials into steel – the load carrier for mining and quarrying [...]
Sunak causes rift with Cabinet over EV discount end October 13, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reportedly in a row with other Cabinet members – including transport secretary Grant Shapps and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng – over his proposed plans to cut grants for buying electric vehicles (EV). As reported by the Telegraph, the Treasury is expected to slash the grants – which amount to £2,500 for [...]
NatWest to launch first eco-friendly loans as part of new £100bn green funding pot October 13, 2021 NatWest said this morning it plans to bring £100bn to green funding to the market by the end of 2025 and the City bank will also roll out its first eco-friendly business loans. The bank stressed its strategy is to help small firms capitalise on the drive to tackle climate change. The pledge sees the [...]
Billionaire hedge fund tycoon Chris Hohn ramps up climate campaign against central banks October 12, 2021 Multi-billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn has ramped up his latest campaign against the banking industry with a set of reforms aimed at quelling its financing of fossil fuel producers, and called on regulators to “immediately reduce” climate-related risk in the financial system. Hohn, who paid himself £343m last year in what is believed [...]