Nature

Sandra Bell06 Feb 2023

Once again the government has given temporary approval to lift the ban on bee-harming chemicals against the recommendation of its own advisors.

Paul de Zylva06 Feb 2023

The sewage pollution scandal shows the dangers of deregulation and weakening standards. Paul de Zylva asks how present ministers can make up for past failures and reboot regulation for good.

Kierra Box02 Feb 2023

The government plans a string of attacks on the rules that protect our environment. Kierra Box explains why nature and communities will suffer from the government’s proposed bonfire of regulations.

Paul de Zylva04 Oct 2022

Nature is in crisis. The UK and EU must not preside over another lost decade of delay and destruction.

Paul de Zylva20 Jul 2022

We face a climate emergency and nature is in crisis – what will it take for our leaders to do the right thing?

Paul de Zylva20 Jul 2022

“The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed.”

08 Jul 2022

As Prime Minister how did Boris Johnson do on the global challenges of climate change and nature? And what environmental commitments should those seeking to succeed him make as they launch their leadership campaigns?

Mike Childs, Paul de Zylva and Nick Rau22 Jun 20226.52 MB PDF file

More trees are needed to cool our cities, to make farming resilient, to restore nature, and to replace the UK's imports of timber which are having a devastating impact on wildlife-rich forests overseas. Can it be done, and done fairly? And how many more trees are needed?

Sandra Bell10 May 2022

The UK government has made levelling up a priority. Senior Sustainability Analyst Sandra Bell sets out 5 tests to assess the strength of the government’s approach and whether it will help the poorest communities. As the government's programme progresses, including draft legislation following the Queen’s Speech, Friends of the Earth will use these tests to report on progress.

Mike Childs11 Jan 2022

This briefing examines why so many more homes are threatened by flood water, where they are and what we can do to manage flood risk.

Clare Oxborrow06 Jan 2022

Commodity supply chains are trashing forests and trampling human rights. Clare Oxborrow explains why the government’s new Environment Act will fail to protect communities and why it must take effective action to regulate UK companies.

09 Dec 2021

Drax power station in Selby, Yorkshire is old, inefficient, environmentally damaging and will need £billions of subsidies to survive. We argue it should start preparing for closure and its workers retrained for decent jobs elsewhere.

Camilla Zerr01 Dec 2021

Camilla Zerr, Plastics campaigner reflects on the current crisis and government’s slow progress in facing up to the plastics reduction challenge.

Mike Childs16 Nov 2021

In the run-up to and at the climate talks at COP26, there was an avalanche of pledges, promises and strategies – but do they add up? Mike Childs, Head of Science, Policy & Research, gives his verdict.

Mike Childs and Paul de Zylva22 Oct 2021

Carbon offsetting and nature offsetting are both worsening the climate and nature emergencies. They can’t be made to work, at least not at scale, and trying to do so is dangerous distraction from the real job at hand, cutting carbon emissions and restoring nature.