Insight

Road to zero carbon: council action on green jobs and skills

25 Jan 20222.08 MB PDF file

A report for Friends of the Earth, Ashden and others on what councils can do to boost green skills in their areas, including for disadvantaged communities.

Is flooding in Northern Ireland getting worse?

Mike Childs11 Jan 2022

This briefing examines why so many more homes are threatened by flood water, where they are and what we can do to manage flood risk.

Environment Act won’t halt deforestation or protect human rights

Clare Oxborrow06 Jan 2022

Commodity supply chains are trashing forests and trampling human rights. Clare Oxborrow explains why the government’s new Environment Act will fail to protect communities and why it must take effective action to regulate UK companies.

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.

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.

“Immediately halt any new extraction projects” in the UK, authors of landmark study reveal

Steve Pye, Dan Welsby, James Price, Paul Ekins and Danny Gross15 Oct 2021

Friends of the Earth interview the authors of the milestone academic study that estimates how much oil, fossil methane gas and coal needs to remain in the ground. They reveal that new fossil fuel extraction projects in the UK are incompatible with limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees.

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?

U-turn on planning reform opens opportunity for progress on climate and nature

Rebecca Murray10 Sep 2021

With the government abandoning its attempt to write communities out of planning decisions, forthcoming legislation later this year may be the chance to finally align the planning system with the climate and nature emergencies. But, as Senior Planner Rebecca Murray explains, the most recent policy documents released by government do anything but that.

Why a hasty trade deal may not be good for us – or for the environment

Kierra Box, Trade Campaigner19 Aug 2021

What precedent might be set by the new Australia trade deal and what could it tell us about the future for UK environmental standards?

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.

2021 - A big year for climate, nature and poverty

Paul de Zylva03 Jun 2021

Will government and business leaders act on the triple emergency? Or will government and business-as-usual win?