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Eco Chamber
Big carbon budgets, the new PRO waste squad PLUS the DRS glass ceilings that won't shatter
Season 2024, Ep. 114
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Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.
This week, ENDS journalists look at:
- The new waste group 'PRO' in charge of the government’s forthcoming extended producer responsibility roll-out.
- The big emission cuts that the government is toying as part of its next carbon budget.
- And the news-in-brief: the sand-eel fishing ban that’s irked the EU, Natural Resources Wales’ tax liabilities and the Somerset farmer blaming slurry pollution on the weather report.
For this week’s fact check, we look into the truth behind the claim by government and industry that glass will be an expensive and complex addition to the forthcoming roll out of a UK-wide deposit return scheme.
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113. DEFRA’s growth mindset, sewage spills into court and EfW fighting ‘dirty’
21:06||Season 2024, Ep. 113Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.This week ENDS journalists look at:The ground-breaking community-led lawsuit attempting to hold a water company to account for the sewage pollution its let slip.Labour’s growth strategy and the ramifications for DEFRA and its regulatorsAnd the news-in-brief: a new nature tsar, Drax under attack and England’s terrible harvests.For this week’s fact-checker, we look into the truth behind the claim that energy-from-waste now ranks as the dirtiest form of energy generation in the country made in a BBC article following the closure of the country's last coal-fired power station.112. Starmer's red tape rampage rings alarm bells for nature
20:30||Season 2024, Ep. 112What were the regulation-slashing announcements in Sir Keir Starmer's speech, and do they signal a war on nature? Who is the 'nature voice' in the government’s new clean power unit? And are dams and reservoirs for hydro projects among the “least intrusive” of renewable energy technologies? Find out in this week's episode of the ECO Chamber...Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.This week ENDS journalists look at:The regulation-slashing stance taken by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer in his latest speech The nature charity chief appointed to the government’s new clean power unitAnd what you need to know about the Disneyland-style theme park plans haunting a nature reserve, deposit return scheme dramas; and a new natural capital reportFor this week’s fact-check, the team evaluate the truth behind a claim that dams and reservoirs are among the “least intrusive” of renewable energy technologies, made in a Telegraph article, in the wake of the government’s new dam building drive.111. Forbidden fruit, DEFRA’s growing pains, and the true cost of offshore wind
25:05||Season 2024, Ep. 111Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, the team unearths:The gardens of England where food grows with toxic PFAS pollution.The environment secretary's plan for growth, growth, growth at DEFRA.And the news-in-brief: Missed biodiversity targets, rotten ammonia protocols and landfill permit breaches. For this week’s fact-check, we look into the truth behind the claim made by Robert Jenrick – the front-runner for the Conservative party leadership – that offshore wind is the driver pushing energy prices up, up and away.110. Toxic shock: the nasties lurking in the sewage sludge being spread on UK fields
35:51||Season 2024, Ep. 110Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, the team explores:The Office for Environmental Protection's landmark legal action on how the government implements its statutory requirements to restore and improve the environmental condition of waterways.Northern Ireland's new environmental improvement plan published after more than a year-long absence.And for the news-in-brief section the team learns: Why the communities secretary approved housing in Cambridge despite water supply issues.The pesticides in our foodsAnd the appointment of a new climate envoy. For this week’s deep-dive the team brings you an ENDS' exclusive on the sewage sludge fertiliser spreading toxic PFAS on our crops and soil.109. Labour conference special: Passport controls, DEFRA ‘captured’, and farming budget fracas
22:16||Season 2024, Ep. 109Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, the team explores:The Labour Party conference and the takehomes, takeovers and takedowns that took place during its Liverpool event. And for the news-in-brief section the team learns more about: New guidance on scattering pet ashes The ‘world's rarest lichen’ discovered in Cumbria And the Welsh watchdog looking to cut staff numbers. For this week’s deep-dive, the team factchecks the truth behind claims that Labour is looking to buyout Thames Water108. PFAS price tag revealed, curtains for Cumbria coal mine, and the true cost of nationalising our water
26:27||Season 2024, Ep. 108Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, the team explores:PFAS. How much is it going to cost and how long have our agency’s known about its dangers? And planning for the UK’s first new deep sea coal mine in decades has been quashed by the courts… why?In the news-in-brief section the team discusses:DEFRA's order to ‘regulate more effectively’. Labour’s climate and nature special envoys and Severn Trent's £300K payout following the pollution of a Gloucestershire brook.For this week’s deep-dive, the team factchecks the true cost of renationalising the water companies.107. Sewage fat cats face the clink, net gain loopholes and Labour's 'reckless' solar expansion
20:52||Season 2024, Ep. 107Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, the team explores:The implications of Labour's new water bill, which includes the threat of criminal action against water company executives who don't clean up their act. Why conservationists want to close loopholes emerging in biodiversity net gain policy.In the news-in-brief section the team discusses: The final report on Grenfell TowerScotland’s nature bill.And the energy majors pursuing oil and gas in the North Sea. For this week’s deep-dive, the team factchecks the Conservative's claim that Labour’s ‘reckless plans’ are compromising food security in favour of giant solar farm development.106. Highways from hell: how toxic run-off from roads is poisoning our waterways
39:17||Season 2024, Ep. 106Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode the team discusses:Labour's plan to eradicate bovine TB through the use of badger and cattle vaccines and also the planned five-year badger cull still ahead.Why the new government has ditched its legal defence of North Sea oil and gas field consents.For the news-in-brief: Natural England has received just three applications for biodiversity net gain credits in the scheme’s first six months, Drax pays £25m after an Ofgem probe finds data governance failures, and conservationists have launched a judicial review to reduce livestock grazing on Dartmoor, why?And finally, in this week’s deep-dive, the team speaks to Jo Bradley of Stormwater Shepherds on toxic road run-off, the ecological poisoning of our wildlife and the poorly devised monitoring regimes that govern the fallout from our motorways.