Tis the season for holidaying, and much the same as every other year (excepting one, see below) I hopped on a train to take me from London down to the South of France to spend a week with my family. Usually I catch the overnight sleeper (and did on my return journey) but this time […]
The director general of the European Commission’s environment directorate, Karl Falkenberg, was the guest speaker at UKELA’s 2012 Garner Lecture hosted kindly by Clifford Chance. It was wonderful to hear a positive, informed European who as an economist, previously in charge of trade, exquisitely married up the environment with sustainable economic growth. Coinciding with the […]
As the dust settles many of us are still taking the time to reflect on the weeks, months, and for some, years of preparations leading up to the Rio +20 conference on sustainable development. Held against the backdrop of the stunning city of Rio de Janeiro, with the ever constant reminder of the beauty in […]
On the 6th April 2012 the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 come into force. As expected, following the coalition government’s u-turn last year, a proposal to allow the Environment Agency to issue fines and use other civil penalties for environmental permitting offences as an alternative to prosecution was not included in the Regulations. However, […]
Markets and businesses – environmental or otherwise – work best when the rules of trade are clear; when the competitive playing field has been flattened out by the heavy rollers of executive decision, legislative and judicial clarification. Some would say that one of the main purposes of effective Government, whether in tackling deficit reduction or climate change, […]
Professor Bob Lee has been appointed as a Special Advisor to the National Assembly for Wales’ Environment and Sustainability Committee. The appointment was confirmed on Wednesday 18 January, as part of the Committee’s review of the Business Case into the creation of a single environmental body for Wales. On 29 November the Welsh Environment Minister, John […]
Last week I was interviewed for One Planet on loopholes in environmental law. The feature is short but there are a few important points to make. Whilst non legal experts who are more concerned with political short term gains are in charge of scrutinising the quality of environmental laws we will continue to have a less […]
Bergen, 24 November 2011 – Two new international reports on the conflict between migratory birds and power lines in the African-Eurasian region are being presented to delegates at a UN wildlife conference taking place 20-25 November 2011 in Bergen, Norway. The two documents, The Review of the Conflict Between Migratory Birds and Electricity Power Grids […]
Foresight, BIS and the Government Office for Science published on the 20 October 2011 a report on environmental migration. The conclusions are fascinating: – People will increasingly migrate towards environmentally vulnerable areas. Rural to urban migration is set to continue, but many cities in the developing world are already failing their citizens with flooding, water shortages […]
Executive and non-executive officers of companies and their advisors need to be aware of the proposed crime of Ecocide. On the 30th September and only for one day Ecocide, the International 5th Crime Against humanity came into being. It was enacted in the UK by the fictitious Ecocide Act 2010 and the CEO’s of two oil […]
