Budget 2021: Sunak scraps rise in fuel duty October 27, 2021 The chancellor is cancelling the planned rise in fuel duty. Speaking at the Budget, Rishi Sunak said he is “not prepared to add to the squeeze on families and small businesses”. Prices at the pumps reached record levels of 142.94p a litre on Sunday. The new record is 28p a litre higher than a year [...]
Government U-turns over water firms dumping sewage in English rivers October 27, 2021 The government has U-turned its decision to block legal obligations being placed on water firms dumping raw sewage into English rivers. This follows an escalating row between ministers and backbench Conservative MPs after they were told to vote down the House of Lords’ amendment to the Environment Bill. Parliament’s upper house had pushed through an [...]
Campaigners granted High Court hearing over HS2 tunnel row October 26, 2021 Environmental campaigners are set to go to the High Court on 28 October over the impact of an HS2 tunnel in the Chiltern Hills. The environmentalists have sought legal action to save the River Misbourne, asking for the HS2 bore tunnel not to be constructed on the site. According to campaigners, the methods and risks [...]
Centrica boss warns of extra £100 energy costs facing UK households October 26, 2021 UK households will face £100 in extra costs following the collapse of multiple small energy firms, warns Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica. Speaking to a House of Lords committee, O’Shea said, “The current retail market failures will put £100 on the bills of every single home in the UK. The CEO argued that [...]
BlackRock CEO predicts a thousand sustainable ‘unicorns’ October 25, 2021 The next thousand global companies valued at over $1bn will be sustainable companies, predicts BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink. Fink said, “It’s my belief that the next 1,000 unicorns – companies that have a market valuation over a billion dollars – won’t be a search engine or media company. They will be businesses developing [...]
SMEs fear high energy costs will act as a barrier to growth October 25, 2021 Seventy per cent of small and medium enterprises (SME) owners believe that high-energy costs will negatively affect the growth of their businesses, according to a new survey from Tyl by Natwest. The group questioned 500 UK SME business owners, and discovered that 65 per cent of SMEs are spending up to one fifth of their [...]
UK petrol prices reach record highs October 25, 2021 Petrol prices soared to an all-time high on Sunday, reaching 142.94p a litre. The new record is 28p a litre higher than a year ago, when petrol cost about 114.5p. Motoring group RAC has described the outcome as a “dark day for drivers.” The rebound has seen prices rise from pandemic lows of 106.48p in [...]
Oil giants revel in massive profits amid gas price crisis October 25, 2021 OIL giants such as Shell and BP are set to reveal massive profits after global gas prices soared. Shell will forecast post-quarterly revenue of £1.5bn for its natural gas division, when it reports on Thursday. Gas prices have climbed globally following a worldwide shortage in supplies. The cost of gas has risen for suppliers by [...]
London council energy firm nets millions in grants but supplies just 476 homes October 24, 2021 A LONDON council has raised eyebrows after taxpayers have handed over nearly £40m to its subsidiary energy company in the past five years, yet the provider still only serves 477 customers – and all but one are residential dwellings. B&D Energy is wholly owned by Barking and Dagenham Council. Since it was founded in 2016, [...]
EV and low emission zones are not a panacea says e-bike boss October 24, 2021 Electric cars are not a “panacea that’s gonna fix everything”, said David Watkins, chief operating officer and cofounder of e-bike subscription service DASH Rides. “A more sustainable city is not going to be car-focused, even if that car is an electric vehicle,” he told City A.M. “We need to move to a different way of [...]