A study from construction firm AECOM and Cambridge Econometrics on behalf of WWF has examined the potential impact of environmental damage on the UK economy in a business-as-usual scenario. It claims that 354,000 jobs may be lost without action to protect UK water supplies, while increased extreme weather events such as floods, heatwaves and wildfires could result in a 0.9% fall in GDP. Too little is being done by the public and private sector to prepare for these risks, campaigners warn.
Edie 26th Sept 2017 read more »
Ministers should tighten the UK’s official climate change target – or face the courts, the government’s former chief scientist has said. Prof Sir David King is supporting a legal case forcing ministers to shrink carbon emissions to zero by 2050. He says the current government goal – an 80% emissions cut by the same date – is too weak to protect the climate. Ministers have promised more ambitious climate policies in their forthcoming and long-delayed Clean Growth plan. But Prof King told BBC News the government knew the 80% target cut behind that plan was too weak.
BBC 27th Sept 2017 read more »