Heat network developer 1Energy has secured £21m of investment from the government for a city-wide heat network in Oxford.1 The company plans to initially invest an additional £100mn of private capital2 to develop, build and operate the first phase of the Oxford Energy Network.3 Over time, 1Energy said its investment into the project could amount […]

Buddy blues: chalkhill blue butterflies at St Catherine’s Hill (image credit: Mike Blacknell). People are being encouraged to come to South Downs National Park’s ReNature Festival (22 to 29 June), as new ecological data appears to reveal that the park’s ongoing ReNature initiative – which aims to restore and create wildlife havens across Sussex and […]

Measuring heat loss in a block of flats: The scorecard ranks what councils are doing in relation to things like cutting residents’ energy bills, and improving public transport. The group Climate Emergency published the second edition of its Council Climate Action Scorecards on 17 June, which attempt to assess all UK councils on their progress […]

Trends explored by the Global Waste Index 2025 include the ongoing move away from landfill (in most places), the growth in waste-to-energy technologies (particularly in Nordic countries and South Korea), and the growing role of digital technologies, AI, and robotics in improving waste sorting and forecasting. The index, compiled by waste management technology firm Sensoneo, […]

Green Lanes rain gardens in Enfield, London: At the report’s launch, Greater London Authority will speak on “Developing a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through street works”. The £600m Ofwat Innovation Fund has published its latest learning report, From source to sea: harnessing nature and communities for whole catchment innovation. The new report uncovers insights […]

Starney Bay in Berwickshire. Scientists warn that the future of our oceans and climate goals depends on reconnecting the ecological threads that hold coastal habitats together. The group behind it says the study delivers the most comprehensive report to date of how coastal habitats in temperate regions function not in isolation, but as interconnected systems […]

3d illustration of bladeless wind turbine concept. Insights from a new study could help unlock the full potential of a developing form of smaller-scale wind power generation, researchers say. Engineers have used sophisticated computer simulations of bladeless wind turbines (BWTs) to identify – supposedly for the first time – how future generations of the technology […]

Water companies increasingly resemble financial institutions rather than “businesses servicing monopolised critical infrastructure”, warns Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in a report published on 16 June. MPs call for “root and branch reform” of a sector they say has “a serious culture problem”, and outline proposals intended to support the action of regulators […]

Wetlands and floodplain meadows are amongst the measures which the campaign says would form a connected network of habitats reaching into  every corner of the nation. A coalition of nature charities is calling on the government to create a large-scale network of connected, nature-rich river corridors across the country. In its “Making Space for Water” […]