Eco Chamber

On this week’s podcast, Professor Ali Driver, senior advisor at Global Rewilding Alliance, discusses the significance of a recent High Court ruling against the Lynx UK Trust at the end of October. The judge said that lynx could not be released under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976, but rather than worry, Driver says the ruling provides clarity for the future. But why is Driver convinced tha...

On this week’s podcast, environmental lawyer Richard Broadbent, a director at the legal firm Freeths LLP discusses the significance of the news that biodiversity net gain (BNG) now applies to nationally significant infrastructure projects. However, with the government having just used its latest Budget to carve out fresh exemptions to BNG policy, there are fears about what the move could mean for...

On this week’s podcast, special guest Dr Anupama Sen, head of policy engagement for the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford joins host James Agyepong-Parsons. The pair discusses the risks and rewards of the government’s recent decision to approve the Jackdaw gas field, the looming decision over Rosebank and whether or not the prime minister can square either...

On this week’s podcast, Julia Baker, the global lead on nature at consultancy Mott MacDonald discusses the risks facing junior ecologists in a new age of AI adoption within the environmental profession. Baker shares her experiences of where the use of AI has benefitted her professional world, how the next generation of ecologists can benefit from it, and the warning signs of what to avoid. For Bak...

Natural England has taken a bruising in political circles in recent months, but particularly in the last week, after the Conservative Party outlined plans to abolish the watchdog were it to be in government. In September, Reform UK also threatened to abolish Natural England should it ever form a government, and the regulator has also come under recent criticism from a Liberal Democrat MP who chair...

Speaking live from the conference in Birmingham, ENDS Report editor Jamie Carpenter breaks down the most important green policy announcements from the party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, and her shadow cabinet. The party has set out plans to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency, withdraw the UK from the Aarhus Convention and scrap the Future Homes Standard. With extensive coverage from ac...

The Labour Party Conference has concluded. The party entered its annual conference with a polling boost holding a four-point lead: 27% of the vote, under the newly-elected prime minister. On the main stage, Burnham used his address to focus on pensions, electoral reform, devolution, and a national care service. On the environment he pledged that “a strengthened water bill” will be brought forward...

On this week’s podcast, environmental lawyer Alexa Culver from RSK Wilding gives her view on why Natural England’s first EDP, set for the Norfolk Broads, is riddled with flaws. She has described the blueprint as a “blunt and daft” tool that has pushed nature and developers in Norfolk into a “lose lose” situation. Last week, Natural England published its first EDP for consultation, which covers the...

On this week’s podcast, Martin Baxter, the deputy chief executive of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) discusses the risks and rewards of AI adoption within the environmental profession.  On Tuesday, ISEP published a new advice note on the responsible use and application of AI by sustainability and environmental professionals.  Baxter believes the neg...

The Labour Party promised a major water reset when it was elected, and Andy Burnham’s government shows no sign of reversing that direction.  New powers have been granted to regulators like the Environment Agency under the Water Special Measures Act, a major review of the sector was carried out by Sir John Cunliffe to ascertain how a more joined-up approach to regulation could be achieved, and...

On this week’s podcast, ENDS Report editor Jamie Carpenter discusses his key takehomes from Reform UK’s second annual conference in Birmingham.  The party’s leadership has been keen to emphasise drastic reductions in the size of the civil service – a 13% cut or 68,500 full-time equivalent roles – should it form the next government.  Reform UK politicians like Robert Jenrick have also cal...

Successive governments have tried to undermine the Habitat Regulations as red tape that needs to be cut.  Most recently, critics have pointed to attacks on the regulations made under the previous Starmer administration, including the  Planning and Infrastructure Act and legislation set to be brought forward following the Fingleton Review.  Those who want to water down the legislatio...

On 20 July, Andy Burnham became prime minister alongside his newly appointed secretaries of state, including Dame Angela Eagle who took the reins at DEFRA.  In the days that followed, new DEFRA ministers were announced, but it’s taken until now for their briefs to be confirmed. In this week’s episode, ENDS Report editor Jamie Carpenter explains what the department’s minister will need to cont...

When Labour entered government it pushed for a “reset” within the water sector promising tougher enforcement and major reforms.  The idea of a “powerful” single water regulator for England was mooted, that would replace Ofwat, parts of the Environment Agency and Natural England, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).  The head of the DWI, Marcus Rink, this month sat down with ENDS Re...

Over the past few weeks, environmentalists have been celebrating the release of six young sea eagles into Exmoor National Park.  Their release means more than 50 have now taken flight across England since their reintroduction on the Isle of Wight in 2019.  However, a recent investigation by the wildlife watchdog Natural England has found that some sea eagles, found dead, had ingested eno...

The Environment Agency has declared droughts across half of England , as parts of the country are experiencing the longest dry period in 30 years. At the same time, wildfires have raged across the UK. Most recently, this has included the Dunwich Heath wildfire in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths protected area, which saw more than 150 hectares of rare coastal lowland heath burned.   On this...

Since taking office as prime minister, Andy Burnham has made a swathe of ministerial changes across Westminster, including within DEFRA.  Dame Angela Eagle has succeeded Emma Reynolds as the new environment secretary and new faces have entered the department’s fold. They include Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who has joined DEFRA as a junior minister and water industry veteran Le...

After weeks of political machinations, Sir Keir Starmer is out and Andy Burnham is in at No.10 Downing Street. While details have remained elusive on the former Manchester mayor’s environmental policies, as he picks his cabinet we can start to understand what type of government he intends to run. Dame Angela Eagle, the new DEFRA secretary, is not new to the department, having served as farming min...

Newly-elected Labour MP for Makerfield Andy Burnham is expected to be confirmed as the UK’s next prime minister in the coming days, having secured enough backing from Labour MPs to make it mathematically impossible for a rival to run against him for the leadership of the Labour Party. The former mayor of Manchester is expected to reshuffle his cabinet once he has the keys to Number 10, which would...

Last month, a Nature’s Rights Bill entered the House of Lords. Its aim is to make nature a legal subject, seeing nature’s rights “ represented and enforced in legal and administrative processes ”.  But Conservative peer Lord Frost said that taking the bill seriously would require every individual and organisation “to pay obeisance to nature and its rights, as if it were some kind of goddess”,...

Four years ago, Burnham was interviewed on a Green Alliance podcast wherein he lauded Ed Miliband, now-energy secretary, as a “visionary”, gave his emphatic support for net zero amid the war in Ukraine, rejected fracking outright, and praised onshore wind.  But that was 2022.  Today’s political mood-music seems a far-cry from that time, with Reform UK surging ahead in this year’s local e...

In the book, The Dirty Man of Europe , it was said that without pressure from Europe, it was difficult to see how the UK would have made any environmental progress in the 80s and 90s. Many in the environment sector feared that the UK’s vote to leave the EU in 2016 would herald a return to its position as the ‘Dirty Man of Europe’. We’re now a  decade on from the Brexit vote, which saw then pr...

This month marks a decade since the Brexit vote and five years since the inaugural ENDS Power List – when Boris Johnson was the prime minister.   A place on the final list has become one of the UK environmental profession’s most sought-after accolades. Three environmentalists who have made the draw five years running are: Richard Benwell, chief executive at the Wildlife and Countryside L...

On Thursday 18 June, the make-or-break Makerfield by-election will take place. Burnham is standing as the Labour candidate and is expected to launch a leadership challenge should he win. But where does he stand on environmental policy?  To find out, ECO Chamber host James Agyepong-Parsons speaks with ENDS Report senior reporter Shosha Adie, and the CEO of the Lancashire, Manchester and North...

In the last week blog posts and essays have been published by the former Labour leader, Sir Tony Blair, and prime minister Sir Keir Starmer – along with potential contenders for the top job – over the future of Labour policy, including on net zero.  Blair has called for the government to shift to the “radical centre” and remove those parts of the net-zero agenda which “prioritise clean energy...