The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a business plan for the period 2011-2015.
Source: Business Plan 2011-2015, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Links: Plan
Date: 2010-Nov
The Department of Energy and Climate Change published a business plan for the period 2011-2015.
Source: Business Plan 2011-2015, Department of Energy and Climate Change
Links: Plan
Date: 2010-Nov
A report examined research evidence relating to 'environmental citizenship'. It considered whether approaches based on environmental citizenship could be used as a means of encouraging pro-environmental behaviour, and set out more specific policy recommendations for how this might be done.
Source: Andrew Dobson, Environmental Citizenship and Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Rapid research and evidence review, Sustainable Development Research Network
Links: Report | Summary | SDRC press release
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined New Labour's efforts (1997-2010) to shape development practice to incorporate sustainable precepts and deliver low-carbon outcomes. A failure to promote integrated environmental policies within government and to subject these to statutory environmental assessment had severely constrained the realization of sustainable development pathways.
Source: Tony Jackson, 'Environmental policy under New Labour', Local Economy, Volume 25 Issues 5/6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
A report (by an official advisory body) said that 'green exercise', outdoor activity, and environmental volunteering improved young people's well-being and personal responsibility as well as maximizing employment chances. It called on the government and service providers to do more to help young people prepare for the green economy in order to tackle youth unemployment.
Source: Improving Young People's Lives: The role of the environment in building resilience, responsibility and employment chances, Sustainable Development Commission
Links: Report | SDC press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report said that the government's proposed Green Investment Bank was too restricted and as a result would reduce economic growth. Instead, a broader 'Industry Bank' should be set up to meet the needs of all manufacturers – not just the sectors 'currently in vogue with. political elites'.
Source: David Merlin-Jones, The Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation: Lessons from the past for the future, Civitas
Links: Report | Civitas press release
Date: 2010-Oct
The coalition government announced (in its 2010 Spending Review) that spending by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would be cut by 29 per cent in real terms by 2014-15. Spending by the Department of Energy and Climate Change would be cut by 5 per cent. The proposed green investment bank was allocated £1 billion.
Source: Spending Review 2010, Cm 7942, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | DEFRA press release | DECC press release | Deloitte press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Green Party press release | Greenpeace press release | PwC press release | UKGBC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A study modelled the potential distributional impacts of climate change policies, comparing the impacts of recovering policy costs through consumer bills and through income taxation. The use of energy bills to recover the cost of climate change policies appeared more regressive than the alternative use of income taxation.
Source: Ian Preston, Vicki White and Pedro Guertler, Distributional Impacts of UK Climate Change Policies, Centre for Sustainable Energy
Links: Report | CSE press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A report (by an official advisory body) provided the first national assessment of how well prepared the United Kingdom was to cope with the impacts of climate change. Some progress had been made by government in raising awareness: but very little tangible action had taken place on the ground.
Source: How Well Prepared Is the UK for Climate Change?, Committee on Climate Change
Links: Report | CCC press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Sep
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on climate change. It said that it agreed with the thesis that adaptation to climate change was a crucial area, and one that needed to become a higher priority.
Source: Government Response to the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Environmental Audit Committee: Adapting to Climate Change, Cm 7912, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report | DEFRA press release
Date: 2010-Aug
The National Audit Office published a briefing paper summarizing the key environmental protection issues facing the United Kingdom.
Source: Environmental Protection: Briefing for the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, National Audit Office
Links: Briefing
Date: 2010-Aug
The new coalition government announced that it was withdrawing funding from the Sustainable Development Commission (an advisory body on environmental issues); and abolishing the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, along with a number of other arm's-length bodies supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 22 July 2010, columns 31-33WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | Defra press release | SDC press release | UKGBC press release | Inside Housing report | Guardian report | New Start report
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government published a draft 'structural reform plan' for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The plan set out how the department would implement the coalition government's key policy aims.
Source: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Draft Structural Reform Plan, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Links: Plan | DEFRA press release
Date: 2010-Jul
A think-tank report said that a carbon tax would be the most cost-effective way of ensuring that the United Kingdom went 'greener' quickly and efficiently.
Source: Robert McIlveen and Dieter Helm, Greener, Cheaper, Policy Exchange
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
An audit report reviewed the data systems used to support delivery of the Labour government's public service agreement 27 – to 'lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change' – over the period from 2008.
Source: Review of the Data Systems for Public Service Agreement 27, National Audit Office
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jun
An audit report reviewed the data systems used to support delivery of the Labour government's public service agreement 28 – to 'secure a healthy environment for today and the future' – over the period from 2008.
Source: Review of the Data Systems for Public Service Agreement 28, National Audit Office
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report set out a long-term plan for meeting electricity and heating requirements while at the same time radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: Zero Carbon Britain 2030, Centre for Alternative Technology
Links: Report | NEF press release | CPRE press release
Date: 2010-Jun
The Green Party (of England and Wales) published its election manifesto for 2010. It called for a High Pay Commission to ensure that bankers and other highly paid executives in the private and public sectors were not rewarded for their failure; a national minimum wage of 60 per cent of net national average earnings (equivalent to around £8.10 per hour); the abolition of National Health Service prescription charges, and the reintroduction of free eye tests; free social care for elderly people; a basic non-means-tested state pension of £170 per week; a free home insulation programme for all homes that needed it, with priority for pensioners and those living in fuel poverty; the construction of a new generation of high-quality council homes; and for the railway system to be taken into public ownership.
Source: Fair Is Worth Fighting For, Green Party of England and Wales
Links: Manifesto | BBC report | Guardian report | New Start report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper examined the Labour government's record on environmental policy since 1997. The United Kingdom would meet its Kyoto obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012: but it was highly unlikely to meet its own domestic target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by 2010. Between 1997 and 2009 green taxes as a share of total government receipts fell from 9.5 per cent to 7.9 per cent.
Source: Paul Johnson, Andrew Leicester and Peter Levell, Environmental Policy Since 1997, Briefing Note 94, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper examined the environment policy proposals put forward by the three main political parties in their general election manifestos. It said that there were few significant new policies being proposed by any of the three parties.
Source: Paul Johnson and Peter Levell, Environmental Policy Proposals, Briefing Note 101, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release
Date: 2010-Apr
A report examined the interplay between social justice, resource scarcity, and climate change; and the role of civil society associations in addressing climate justice.
Source: Vikki Johnson, Andrew Simms, Perry Walker and Josh Ryan-Collins, Bridging the Gap Between Climate Change, Resource Scarcity and Social Justice: The future role of civil society associations, Carnegie UK Trust
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that far more needed to be done by the government to help people to adapt to climate change – such as a programme to 'retrofit' homes to make them more energy- and water-efficient and resilient to flooding.
Source: Adapting to Climate Change, Sixth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 113, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | TCPA press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report set out how government and third sector organizations would work together over the following five years to tackle key environmental issues such as climate change and sustainable development.
Source: Shaping Our Future: The joint ministerial and third sector task force on climate change, the environment and sustainable development, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release | Green Alliance press release
Date: 2010-Mar
An article said that it was difficult for political leaders to take action on climate change on the scale, and at the speed, that were necessary. Neither governments, businesses nor individuals acting alone would be able to secure more decisive action by political leaders. Only the third sector could do this, and a far greater mobilization would be needed to create the social foundations for action.
Source: Stephen Hale, 'The new politics of climate change: why we are failing and how we will succeed', Environmental Politics, Volume 19 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
A report set out a framework of key components that needed to be considered in order to help organizations build resilience to climate change.
Source: Adapting Institutions to Climate Change, Cm 7843, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution/TSO
Links: Report | RCEP press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that low-carbon technologies would create jobs and lower carbon dioxide emissions: but there had been 'disappointingly slow' progress by the government in the move towards a green economy.
Source: Low Carbon Technologies in a Green Economy, Fourth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 193, House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report examined the social justice implications of climate change. Those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the United Kingdom might be those who had contributed least to the problem.
Source: How Will Climate Change Affect People in the UK and How Can We Best Develop an Equitable Response?, Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2010-Mar
The government announced (in the 2010 Budget) that it would set up a green investment bank with £2 billion of equity to fund low-carbon transport and energy schemes. One-half of the funds would come from asset sales, including the Channel Tunnel rail link, with the rest matched by private investment.
Source: Budget 2010: Securing the Recovery, HC 451, HM Treasury/TSO | Strategy for National Infrastructure, HM Treasury
Links: Report | Infrastructure strategy | Hansard | HMT press release | Friends of the Earth press release | NEF press release | Groundwork press release | Forum for the Future press release | UKGBC press release | Deloitte press release | Guardian report | New Start report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that the effectiveness of the European Union's emissions trading system was being undermined by a collapse in carbon prices, and called on the government to consider new financial incentives to help cut carbon emissions.
Source: The Role of Carbon Markets in Preventing Dangerous Climate Change, Fourth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 290, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | Friends of the Earth press release | CBI press release | PWC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report said that the government could cut £12 billion off the national debt through a package of public spending cuts and the abolition of tax allowances that promoted growth in carbon emissions.
Source: Cutting Back on Carbon Spending: Ways to cut public spending and reduce support for a high carbon economy, Green Alliance
Links: Report | Green Alliance press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
An article examined the mechanisms in Scotland underlying the disproportionate siting of undesirable land uses (such as landfill schemes) in or near areas of economic deprivation.
Source: Elizabeth Richardson, Niamh Khortt and Richard Mitchell, 'The mechanism behind environmental inequality in Scotland: which came first, the deprivation or the landfill?', Environment and Planning A, Volume 42 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jan