The future of Drax: old, inefficient, damaging and expensive
09 Dec 2021
Drax power station in Selby, Yorkshire is old, inefficient, environmentally damaging and will need £billions of subsidies to survive. We argue it should start preparing for closure and its workers retrained for decent jobs elsewhere.
When will the government act to halt plastic pollution?
Camilla Zerr01 Dec 2021
Camilla Zerr, Plastics campaigner reflects on the current crisis and government’s slow progress in facing up to the plastics reduction challenge.
Failing to insulate – a double threat of fuel poverty and climate harm
Mike Childs22 Nov 2021
There’s a price to pay for decades of underfunding energy efficiency improvements to the UK’s older and badly insulated houses. And the price is causing harm to the poorest in society, pensioners, people of colour, young people and people with health and disability challenges. These communities suffer disproportionately from fuel poverty and the impact of climate breakdown, which is exacerbated by inefficient, energy-hungry homes.
Rank of fuel poverty neighbourhoods by LA
17 Nov 202137 kB XLSX file
Data on levels of fuel poverty in neighbourhoods by local authority area.
Tackling climate breakdown – how do government strategies measure up?
Mike Childs16 Nov 2021
In the run-up to and at the climate talks at COP26, there was an avalanche of pledges, promises and strategies – but do they add up? Mike Childs, Head of Science, Policy & Research, gives his verdict.
Tip of the iceberg: The future of fossil fuel extraction
26 Oct 2021
This report explores how the UK government supports fossil fuel extraction at home and abroad. It reveals the 40 new UK oil, gas and coal extraction projects that are in the pipeline for approval in the next few years.
A dangerous distraction – the offsetting con
Mike Childs and Paul de Zylva22 Oct 2021
Carbon offsetting and nature offsetting are both worsening the climate and nature emergencies. They can’t be made to work, at least not at scale, and trying to do so is dangerous distraction from the real job at hand, cutting carbon emissions and restoring nature.
Global Britain? 6 ways the UK can protect and restore nature
Paul de Zylva04 Oct 2021
What can the government do to restore nature here and overseas?
Why 2020-30 is a make-or-break decade for climate and nature
Paul de Zylva04 Oct 2021
We face a climate emergency and nature is in crisis – what will it take for our leaders to do the right thing?
20 actions parish and town councils can take on the climate and nature emergency
Mike Childs24 Jun 2021
Parish and town councils may not be as powerful as local authorities but they can be a force for change in addressing the climate and nature emergency.
Are England’s new plans for trees and peat fit for purpose?
Paul de Zylva20 May 2021
Like proverbial double decker buses, two major action plans have arrived at the same time. The government’s Peat and Trees Action Plans were expected, but are they worth the wait? Paul de Zylva picks the high, the lows, and points to what comes next.
Why the government is wrong to ever allow banned neonics on our fields
Sandra Bell25 Mar 2021
Documents revealed by Freedom of Information rules show that when the government gave temporary approval to lift the ban on bee-harming chemicals it went against the recommendation of its own advisors.
An emergency plan on green jobs for young people
01 Mar 20211.36 MB PDF file
There are over 500,000 young people aged 16-24 out of work, and numbers are expected to grow substantially with the end of the furlough scheme. This is a youth unemployment emergency. Friends of the Earth commissioned consultancy Transition Economics to identify how to create green jobs quickly, with a focus on green apprenticeships, and to identify the scale of funding needed. And to put the level of funding into context, we also asked them to estimate the economic scarring impact from periods of unemployment. Read the report.
Faster, deeper and fairer carbon pollution cuts needed
Mike Childs27 Jan 2021
Faster, deeper and fairer cuts to carbon emissions than those recommended by the Climate Change Committee are possible and necessary.
Friends of the Earth's response to changes in the current planning system
Kate Gordon, Senior Planner12 Nov 2020
The government is proposing changes to the current planning system. Our response outlines our concerns that these will make it harder for local authorities to take account of sustainable development and climate change in planning decisions, remove local democratic oversight and reduce fairness and transparency.