An insulation company is warning the government not to ignore the long-term picture, amid claims that it is planning to extend the deadline for energy companies to fulfil their responsibilities under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO), in a bid to lower fuel bills. read more...

Future residents of housing developments built on ex MOD land could be facing threats from radioactivity, according to a new report. Such brownfield land is frequently sought after for building, being largely free of the planning restrictions attached to greenfield development. read more...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) continues to lead growth in the UK organics recycling industry, according to the latest sector survey (ASORI), published by WRAP. The main non-agricultural source material for AD is food waste, including that from local authority collections. read more...

Environmental groups have welcomed the announcement from government this week that ends plans to build a barrage across the Severn Estuary. Kate Jennings, from the RSPB, said: "Once again, plans to build a Severn barrage have been effectively dismissed, described as 'hypothetical' and fail to demonstrate either effective mitigation of environmental impacts or value for money". read more...

Two Greenpeace International activists have been arrested after climbing a Gazprom oil platform in the Russian Arctic, during a peaceful protest that has prompted a disproportionate use of force by the Russian Coast Guard. read more...

A bumblebee species driven to extinction in the UK has nested for the first time in a quarter of a century. The short-haired bumblebee disappeared from our shores in the 1980s and a mission to reintroduce it was launched at the RSPB Dungeness reserve in Kent. read more...

The annual UK market for photovoltaic solar panels has hit the Gigawatt level for the first time, according to research data published recently. The news confirms the UK’s position as one of the up and coming markets in the global solar industry, marking out the UK solar sector as GW status end market territory. read more...

Criticism has been levelled at councils across the UK for failing to take action on climate change in a new report published recently. Some English and Northern Irish city councils are failing to take policy action on climate change, while Scottish city councils - Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen - who took part in the survey were praised by researchers. read more...