News

The UK Government’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is set to have major impact on businesses. The new regulation aims to support industrial decarbonisation without disproportionately harming domestic firms but it will also impact costs, supply chains and reporting requirements. In March, the UK Government’s new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched a consultation to explore new climate policies that could have significant implications for businesses importing or exporting to the UK. These measures will seek to address carbon leakage, which occurs when companies shift their business abroad to...

Wales has the highest uptake of small-scale renewable installations in homes and businesses across the UK. Scotland has previously held the top spot as the UK nation with the highest proportion of installations per household. As Welsh homeowners continue to invest heavily in greener energy they have overtaken Scotland in the league tables for the first time since 2021, according to latest data from MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme). Scotland has roughly double the number of households as Wales, so although Wales has a smaller total installation count, there are more...

An upgraded power grid will enable installation of heat pumps and EV chargers and also fuel investment and business growth. But network companies will need to make significant investments to transition to low-marginal cost renewables, a move that will enable electrification of heat and transport and see a fall in long-term network costs per unit of energy delivered.  That’s according to a new report, ‘Building an Electricity Network for Net Zero’, that evaluates existing initiatives from the UK Government, OFGEM and network operators to develop grid capacity and ease access to...

New Zealand aims to cut 45 per cent of carbon emissions from its biggest steel plant by converting to an electric power furnace. New Zealand Steel will build a new $300M Electric Arc Furnace at its steelworks at Glenbrook within the next three years as part of the move to lower carbon production. The investment will reduce Glenbrook’s carbon footprint by 800,000 tonnes from day one – the same as taking approximately 300,000 cars off the road permanently. “That’s a reduction of over 45 per cent in New Zealand Steel’s...

Sustainable aviation fuel is a lead solution to reducing carbon emissions but synthetic fuels for shipping face major challenges. While leading companies in the aviation sector are busy producing over a million tonnes of synthetic fuel each year, efforts to produce low-carbon fuel for the maritime industry face a range of practical and cost-driven barriers. International shipping accounts for 681 million tons of CO2 every year according to a recent report by ING. While the sector is improving in terms of energy efficiency, emissions are likely to stay at about 600...

The World Circular Economy Forum 2023 will take place in Helsinki, Finland, from 30 May to 2 June 2023. The forum brings together leading circular economy players to present and seek business and government solutions to adapt our economic system to the limits of nature’s capacity. The World Circular Economy Forum wants to accelerate a future that strengthens the well-being of nature. This year’s event will therefore focus on what circular economy solutions are best suited to preventing the loss of biodiversity. In a circular economy, materials and the value they...

Digital product passports will play an increasingly central role in value chain sustainability and the circular economy. Powered by blockchain and AI technology and due to become law across the EU in 2026, DPPs are key to establishing the credibility of strict new supply chain reporting rules but is business and industry ready to embrace the benefits of DPPs? The digital product passport (DPP) is a tool proposed by the European Commission (EC) to create transparency, unlock circularity and share product information across the entire value chain including data on...

Leading business figures have called for reform of company law to give sustainability the same legal standing as profit and growth. Major changes must be made to boardroom rules to enshrine sustainability in company law that currently rewards profit as the sole corporate objective, at the expense of all other considerations. More than 20,000 businesses and the vast majority of UK public polled in a nationwide survey are backing a change to company law that would see the interests of people and the planet sit alongside those of shareholders when making...

The eighth edition of the State of the EU ETS Report details recent changes to the European carbon market. The report comes at a key moment for the EU ETS, as the main elements of its reform have just been adopted by European institutions. In particular, the mechanism’s emission reduction target has been raised (-62% by 2030 compared to 2005) and will now cover shipping emissions from the maritime sector. A separate new ETS will be created to cover emissions from fuels used in commercial buildings and road transport, and a Carbon Border...

America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is set to reveal updates to its ‘Green Guides’ that aim to boost the robustness of eco-claims. The updates are expected to include changes to current disclosure frameworks; a range of new measures and guidance involving sustainability claims; the use of ‘green’ terms like ‘carbon neutral’; issues around carbon offsets; the expansion of enforcement authority and use of the Green Guides in private litigation. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Green Guides help companies avoid making environmental marketing claims that are unfair or deceptive under Section...