Adam Vaughan

Chris Walters has been appointed the new CEO of water regulator Ofwat

Two years ago he said:

— “on average, bills are really, really modest”
— "even a pretty significant percentage increase is actually a very modest increase in absolute terms"

www.endsreport.com/article/1844...

US under Trump is not content with hampering international action on climate change. It’s also lobbying other countries to oppose an ambitious plastic pollution treaty
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Thanks Laurie, yes same figs are in my story

in absolute terms though, the number of heat pumps is still very low

Subsidise cheaper loans for heat pumps, energy industry urges ministers Britain’s biggest energy companies have called on Ed Miliband to subsidise cheaper loans to help nearly a million people switch to heat pumps and other green technologies. Industry group Energy UK, wh...

Britain’s biggest energy companies have called on the government to subsidise cheaper loans to help nearly a million people switch to heat pumps and other green technologies

@energy-uk.org.uk says middle income households risk being "left behind"

www.linkedin.com/pulse/subsid...

UK plans scheme to suck CO₂ from the air Ministers are to start negotiations with the Swiss firm Climeworks as part of the government’s new zero strategy

@climeworks.bsky.social could be getting into CO2 removals in the UK

Energy secretary Ed Miliband has begun talks to set up the UK’s first commercial project to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air and store it in old gas fields under the Irish Sea

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

England’s water companies are causing more than 100 potentially illegal raw sewage spills a day into rivers and seas

• 6,177 dry day spills by 9 firms in Jan & Feb
• 6x times as many as previous BBC estimate
• Anglian Water worst on 1,347

Story 👇
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

that's a fun frame for it

Hope for global plastics treaty in Geneva to tackle pollution Officials from 170 countries are gathering to finalise measures to curb waste, after Sir David Attenborough’s Ocean documentary brought the issue into focus

More than 170 countries are meeting in Geneva tomorrow

Their task: thrash out a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution

What would it mean for the average person if the final deal is ambitious? Here's what experts think 👇

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Urban wildlife: when animals go wild in the city Adam Vaughan: Tall buildings, abundant food sources and a lack of predators make modern cities a natural habitat for many birds and animals

Reminds me of writing this piece on urban wildlife inc foxes a decade ago
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Spatial distribution of human-wildlife interactions predicts coexistence with a global urban carnivore, the red fox Despite growing recognition that spatial factors such as urbanisation and geographic region shape human-wildlife interactions, few studies have examined – on a large geographic scale – how urbanisatio...

City foxes are more likely to bin-raid than suburban and rural ones

And London is the hotspot for bin-raiding foxes

Not hugely surprising, but interesting preprint by a Uni of Hull & Uni of Lincoln team

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Why rivers need human rights The Story · Episode

New podcast: why rivers need rights

A discussion of the river Test being granted 'personhood' by the local council, the wider nature rights movement and how our waterways got into such a mess

open.spotify.com/episode/7eKN...

"A “drill, baby, drill” policy calls for more capacity for climate tracking and assessment, not less."

Good piece by Ralph Keeling of @keelingcurve.bsky.social

www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

World's biggest offshore windfarm gets final major consent

Berwick Bank east of the Scottish Borders coast would be 4.1GW

(4.1GW is astonishing. I'm old enough to remember everyone getting excited about the London Array's 0.64GW in 2013!)

www.sse.com/news-and-vie...

Gardeners urged to use more drought-resistant plants to help pollinators Gardeners have been urged to help pollinators by planting more marjoram and other drought-resistant plants that flower in summer. Warm weather and the driest spring in more than 50 years have buoyed i...

Gardeners urged to use more drought-resistant plants to help pollinators
www.linkedin.com/pulse/garden...

Loving the smog breathing exercise

Headspace should snap this up...

98%

That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)

Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible

Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Good news alert

In 2024, renewables supplied more than half of the UK's electricity for the first time over a year, reaching a record share of 50.4%

Renewables and nuclear combined hit a new high of 64.7%

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6889ec...

PR firm working for Shell wins COP30 media contract As calls grow to keep fossil fuel influence out of UN climate talks, campaigners say Edelman’s partnership with the oil and gas major raises an alarming conflict of interest As calls grow to keep foss...

"Public relations giant Edelman is helping #COP30 host-nation Brazil hone its media strategy for this year’s UN climate conference – even though it also works for Shell, one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies" reports @mcivillini.bsky.social

www.climatechangenews.com/2025/07/30/p...

2025 has seen the second warmest first half of the year on record after 2024 – and is on track to be the second or third warmest year since records began in 1850. My latest State of the Climate report over at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...

Image of oil slick at sea. Guardian article by Watershed Investigations. Title: Only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds. Subheading: Pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019 were compared against scientific study that used satellite imagery to count slicks. By Leana Hosea and Saroj Pathirana.

Paths of poison across our oceans:

of 90411 oil spills from ships, only 474 were reported in a 5 year period - satellite analysis exposes high density "slick belts" coinciding with shipping lanes.

Our latest article with @pulitzercenter.bsky.social journalist Saroj Pathirana out now:

England & Wales' main way of tracking the health of rivers is painting an "unduly pessimistic picture", says a review for the UK govt

It suggests moving to a "surface water biodiversity audit" where the diversity of species is the main marker of health

sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetai...

Anglian Water ordered to pay £63m for sewage failures An investigation by Ofwat found that the company had systematically failed to manage its wastewater treatment assets effectively since 2017

Ofwat expressed concern over Anglian Water's environmental record. It recorded 11 serious pollution incidents in both 2022 and 2023, exceeding its targets. Since 2019 it has been prosecuted by the EA more than 10 times for pollution incidents. Story 👇
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Anglian Water ordered to pay a £63 millon enforcement package for sewage pollution failures at its wastewater treatment works
www.ofwat.gov.uk/consultation...

The company's leadership also had bonuses banned this year for recent failings

A bit of joy on a Monday morning, beautifully-presented

EA staff shortages hit water quality testing

NEW: The Environment Agency has been forced to cancel thousands of water pollution tests over the past three months due to staff shortages

Joint investigation by @unearthednews.bsky.social and @desmog.com out today

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/07/24/e...

21% of people in England, Scotland & Wales would find new pylons and subtations in their local area "unacceptable", finds survey for govt.

68% are fine with new network infra. The rest don't know.

Interesting findings for 2030 clean power target:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6880e1...

I travelled the globe to document how humans became addicted to faking the natural world. Here’s what I found In his new book, The Anthropocene Illusion, photographer Zed Nelson reflects on the surreal environments created as people destroy nature, yet crave connection to it

This is a great photo essay by Zed Nelson of the ways people fake natural environments
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UN court ruling may allow poorer countries to sue polluting nations Countries have been told they have a legal obligation to fight climate change in a landmark legal opinion that has been hailed by environmentalists

The UN’s highest court has said countries are legally obliged to fight climate change, in a decision that could increase the chance of nations hit by extreme weather claiming damages from other governments.

@thetimes.com story here
www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

The UN's highest court, the ICJ, has issued its advisory opinion on climate change

Judge Iwasawa Yuji just spent 2 hours reading it.

He said the question of states' obligations on climate are an "existential problem of planetary proportions"

Full opinion here:
www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

The fossil fuel industry has “run out of road” as renewable energy projects become the cheapest way of generating electricity, according to the chief of the United Nations, @antonioguterres.

“The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing,” he said.

👇
www.un.org/sg/en/conten...