UK must commit to new nuclear power or risk energy shortfall, report says January 21, 2021 The government must commit to developing more nuclear capacity if the UK is to cope with the expected doubling of electricity demand by 2050, a new report has found. According to the Centre for Policy Studies, failure to invest in new nuclear power could see the UK forced to choose between hitting its net zero [...]
Exclusive: UK eyes adding climate provisions in US trade talks to woo Joe Biden January 13, 2021 The UK will try to add new provisions on climate change and environmental standards in US trade negotiations in a bid to woo incoming President Joe Biden. Trade secretary Liz Truss wants to build on current negotiations with the Donald Trump administration and potentially add things like enhanced protections on air pollution and corporate transparency [...]
Ahead of COP26, what’s on industry leaders’ climate change wishlists this year? January 12, 2021 At the moment, it’s hard to think beyond the next six weeks, but 2021 is set to be a huge year for climate action around the world. Front and centre is November’s COP26 conference, which will see the world’s leaders descend on Glasgow for the latest round of the United Nations’ ongoing climate change negotiations. [...]
Prince Charles urges business to back new ‘Earth Charter’ January 11, 2021 Prince Charles will today urge the private sector to sign up to the “Terra Carta”, a new environmental pledge to protect the natural world. The “Earth charter”, which takes its name from the Magna Carta, has already been signed by dozens of high profile businesses. These include Astrazeneca, Bank of America, EY, Unilever, and Blackrock, [...]
Rolls-Royce betting small is beautiful when it comes to UK nuclear power January 9, 2021 For many, nuclear power stations are eyesores – great slabs of gun-metal grey cluttering up the UK’s coastlines. But that could be about to change. Last year FTSE 100 blue-bloods Rolls-Royce announced it was planning on building a fleet of 16 so-called “small modular reactors” (SMRs) in a move that would shake up the UK’s [...]
BlackRock: Sustainable investments to accelerate in 2021 as ESG focus intensifies January 2, 2021 The global health and economic challenges of 2020 have not slowed investor demand for sustainable investing, a new BlackRock survey has found. In fact, investors plan to double their allocations to sustainable products over the next five years, and 20 per cent said that the pandemic would actually accelerate their sustainable investing allocations, according to [...]
Alok Sharma offers to resign as business minister to lead climate summit January 2, 2021 UK business minister Alok Sharma has offered to resign from his ministerial position in order to take on a full-time role preparing for the country’s chairmanship of United Nations COP26 climate change summit, according to The Times today. Sharma, who is also president of this year’s climate summit, reportedly told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that [...]
Exclusive: Enviva CEO John Keppler on green energy souces and Covid-related challenges December 21, 2020 City A.M.‘s Michiel Willems sat down with John Keppler, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Enviva, the world’s largest producer of sustainable wood bioenergy. Some observers claim that biomass is not as green as it ought to be. What do you say to those critics? Instead of focusing on division we are focused on the consensus [...]
Global emissions cuts needed on ‘unprecedented scale’ to reach Paris Climate target December 18, 2020 If the world is to reach the Paris Climate Agreement’s target of a global temperature increase of no more than 1.5°C, we need to cut emissions five times more quickly than the current rate. This is according to PwC’s Net Zero Economy Index, which delivers a stark message to businesses and governments. The index shows [...]
UK to stop backing overseas oil and gas projects December 12, 2020 Boris Johnson will pledge to end direct government support for overseas fossil fuel projects at a U.N. summit on Saturday, aiming to spur similar moves by other countries to help tackle climate change, his office said. Britain, which is co-hosting the virtual summit ahead of climate negotiations in Glasgow next year, has faced accusations of [...]