Yearly Archives: 2023

Young people to take 32 European countries to court over climate policies

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/14/young-people-to-take-32-european-countries-to-court-over–climate-policies

Canadian wildfire 2023
Canadian wildfire 2023

Claimants to argue lack of adequate action is breach of human rights, in largest climate legal action to date

Six young people are preparing to appear at the European court of human rights to try to compel 32 nations to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in the world’s largest climate legal action to date.

Aged from 11 to 24, the six Portuguese claimants, say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that ripped through the Leiria region in 2017, killing 66 people and destroying 20,000 hectares of forest.

After another summer in which wildfires raged across Portugal, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Italy, the young people will argue in the grand chamber of the Strasbourg court in 13 days’ time that the 32 European nations’ policies to tackle global heating are inadequate and in breach of their human rights obligations.

Crowdfunded by people around the world, who have donated more than £100,000, they are seeking a binding ruling from the judges to force the countries to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in what would be a historic milestone in climate litigation.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/14/young-people-to-take-32-european-countries-to-court-over-climate-policies

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House of Lords give damning assessment of Therese Coffey’s dealings with water companies

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Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

Committee slam a ‘lack of leadership and deep-rooted complacency’

A House of Lords committee has given a damning judgement into the work of environment secretary Therese Coffey, finding ‘deep-rooted complacency’ in government dealings with water companies.

This has come at the risk of water shortages and extreme environmental consequences, the industry and regulators’ committee found, due to a ‘lack of leadership’ in government which has meant water companies have failed to protect the environment and the water supply.

In a letter to Coffey, the committee warned that a continued under-investment in water infrastructure will have ‘serious long-term consequences for the environment and the security of water supplies’, risking future water shortages.

The inquiry was launched in June as a follow-up to a previous report titled ‘The affluent and the effluent: cleaning up the failures of water regulation’ which concluded large scale failures in the water system from under-investment and insufficient government strategy.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

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These bombshell new polls are among the worst yet for the Tories

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/these-bombshell-new-polls-are-among-the-worst-yet-for-the-tories/

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps. Credit: Simon Dawson / 10 Downing Street, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This would be an unprecedented wipeout

Tory polling woes continue this week. Three new polls have indicated Rishi Sunak’s party are on track to be obliterated at the next general election.

Polling firm Redfield and Wilton has Labour currently sitting on a healthy 18 point lead over the Tories. The company’s latest poll has Labour on 44%, the Tories on 26%, the Lib Dems on 14%, Reform on 6% and the Greens on 6%.

Polling aggregator Stats for Lefties has projected that if this were repeated in a general election, the Tories would be left with just 109 seats. Labour would have a stonking majority, bagging 426 seats.

That would be bad enough for the Tories. But another poll is even more damning. The latest poll from Ipsos gives Labour an even bigger lead of 20 points – with Labour on 44%, the Tories 24%, the Lib Dems 12%, the Greens 8% and Reform 4%.

Projecting what that might look like at the next general election (thanks to Stats for Lefties again) would see the Tories down to double digits of MPs. Labour would end up on 461 seats, with the Tories way behind on 72.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/these-bombshell-new-polls-are-among-the-worst-yet-for-the-tories/

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Rishi Sunak considers weakening key green policies

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Madness, Driving in My Car

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66857551

Rishi Sunak is considering weakening some of the government’s key green commitments in a major policy shift.

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First, the government would push the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars – currently set to come into force in 2030 – back to 2035. The 2030 date has been government policy since 2020.

Second, the government would significantly weaken the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, saying that they only want 80% to be phased out by that year.

Third, homeowners and landlords would be told that there will be no new energy efficiency regulations on homes. Ministers had been considering imposing fines on landlords who fail to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency.

Fourth, the 2026 ban on off-grid oil boilers will be delayed to 2035, with only an 80% phase out target at that date.

In addition, Britons will be told that there will be no new taxes to discourage flying, no government policies to change people’s diets and no measures to encourage carpooling.

Mr Sunak is also likely to rule out what he sees as burdensome recycling schemes.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66857551

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