Climate change

Why 2020-30 is a make-or-break decade for climate and nature

Paul de Zylva20 Jul 2022

We face a climate emergency and nature is in crisis – what will it take for our leaders to do the right thing?

Who suffers most from heatwaves in the UK?

13 Jul 2022

New research identifies the communities most vulnerable to the health impacts of heatwaves.

Why we need more trees in the UK

Mike Childs, Paul de Zylva and Nick Rau22 Jun 20226.52 MB PDF file

More trees are needed to cool our cities, to make farming resilient, to restore nature, and to replace the UK's imports of timber which are having a devastating impact on wildlife-rich forests overseas. Can it be done, and done fairly? And how many more trees are needed?

Is the government's levelling up plan any good?

Sandra Bell10 May 2022

The UK government has made levelling up a priority. Senior Sustainability Analyst Sandra Bell sets out 5 tests to assess the strength of the government’s approach and whether it will help the poorest communities. As the government's programme progresses, including draft legislation following the Queen’s Speech, Friends of the Earth will use these tests to report on progress.

Justice moves centre-stage in IPCC climate report

Mike Childs24 Mar 2022

Latest IPCC report shows equity and justice are essential to successful climate action

The future of heating

Mike Childs21 Feb 2022

Meeting climate targets through electric heating backed by renewably-produced hydrogen.

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.

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?

Near You

12 Jul 2021External link

Near You is a data-driven tool that provides you with stats about your area's performance on climate and shows you how to work with local leaders to improve key areas like woodland cover and transport.

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.