This July is set to be the joint-warmest month on record for the world – and may even be the hottest ever seen, provisional figures indicate.

Figures suggest global average temperatures for the month will be “on a par with and possibly marginally higher” than those seen in July 2016, the previous warmest July – and warmest month overall – on record.

The assessment shows that July 2019 will have been around 1.2C (2.16F) above pre-industrial levels.

Hottest

The provisional assessment is based on data for July 1 to 29 from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Final, confirmed data for the month will be published on Monday.

The difference in temperatures between the months of July 2016 and 2019 in the assessment is smaller than the difference typically seen between the various sets of global data which the analysis uses, the experts said.

July is not alone in being hot, with all the months of 2019 so far ranking among the four warmest for their time of year, they said.

The latest figures come after June 2019 was recorded as the hottest June in the records.

Swallow

Record-breaking heatwaves gripped parts of the northern hemisphere in July, with the UK seeing a new high temperature of 38.7C (101.66F) set in Cambridge on Thursday July 25 as the country sweltered in the heat.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands also saw national records broken as exceptionally high temperatures gripped large parts of central and western Europe last week.

Earlier in the month, parts of the US suffered record-breaking hot conditions.

Prof Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said: “Months which break the global temperature record, such as July 2016 and June and July 2019, are now the expectation rather than a surprise since this is entirely consistent with the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human activities.

“Just as one swallow does not make a summer, one record month does not tell us much on its own since the fickle nature of weather systems and the slow sloshing about of the ocean can sometimes temporarily warm or cool the planet.

Fundamental

“However, the clustering of recent record hot years and months, the longer-term warming trend and our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere and oceans confirms that our climate is heating up, it’s our fault and the way to stop this is to reduce and begin removing emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Prof Dann Mitchell, associate professor of atmosphere science at the University of Bristol, said the current global data showed July was “probably the warmest on record”.

“The warming trend is clear and the scientific evidence robustly points to this being caused by human induced climate change.”

He warned: “A 1.2C increase in global temperature, as reported for this July, almost certainly means an even higher increase in temperature over land, and cities, which are known to warm faster than the oceans.”

Tens of thousands of people can die prematurely in heatwaves and such incidents were projected to get significantly worse in the future, so “fundamental infrastructure changes” are needed to adapt to climate change.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent. Image: Mr.TinDC. “So hot! My neighborhood in Columbia Heights definitely runs on the warm side. Thermometer not in direct sunlight.”

Boris Johnson’s government must invest in a new “sustainable industrial revolution” to deliver the recovery of nature and the climate, the chairs of two of its agencies have urged.

The Environment Agency’s Emma Howard Boyd and Natural England chairman Tony Juniper have called on new prime minister to make environmental issues a top priority.

And they have warned that where once environmental harm was seen as “the price of progress”, it is now apparent that a failure to reverse damage to nature, water quality, wildlife losses and climate change will halt progress.

Global scale

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy,” they say in a comment piece published on the Green Alliance website.

Their call comes as parts of the UK battle floods in the wake of a record-breaking heatwave, both extreme weather events which are becoming more likely in the face of climate change.

They warn that there is a pressing need to take action to avoid the biggest global-scale loss of species in more than 60 million years, in what has been described as the sixth mass extinction.

Ms Howard Boyd and Mr Juniper welcomed moves by Mr Johnson to back the new net zero emissions target to tackle climate change, which his predecessor Theresa May set into law before she left office.

But they warned “it is not, however, enough to say ‘we will leave the environment in a better state’, we need to also invest in delivery”.

Leadership

They called for the government to use the forthcoming spending review to invest in environmental recovery, which they argue would provide opportunities to deliver new clean tech and sustainable agriculture.

“We are convinced that now is the time to find the resources needed for the recovery of natural systems that sustain our society and economy,” the agency leaders said.

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy, making the recovery of the environment a sound economic investment.

“It would create huge opportunities to develop clean technologies and new forms of sustainable agriculture. It would also bolster the City of London’s leadership in green finance.

Wildlife

“This country was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and, at this critical juncture in the world’s future, now is the time to act and enable the UK to lead once again in a new Sustainable Industrial Revolution.

“If we invest in the recovery of nature and climate we know that it will increase long-term stability for our health, security and prosperity.

“This is the new reality and the present imperative. It is not, as some would see it, an optional ‘green’ choice that we can only afford in the good times.”

Measures to help the environment have public backing, and people are “rightly expecting action”, they added.

The Environment Agency and Natural England are public bodies with responsibility for areas including waste, pollution, water quality, flooding, wildlife and landscapes.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

This July is set to be the joint-warmest month on record for the world – and may even be the hottest ever seen, provisional figures indicate.

Figures suggest global average temperatures for the month will be “on a par with and possibly marginally higher” than those seen in July 2016, the previous warmest July – and warmest month overall – on record.

The assessment shows that July 2019 will have been around 1.2C (2.16F) above pre-industrial levels.

Hottest

The provisional assessment is based on data for July 1 to 29 from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Final, confirmed data for the month will be published on Monday.

The difference in temperatures between the months of July 2016 and 2019 in the assessment is smaller than the difference typically seen between the various sets of global data which the analysis uses, the experts said.

July is not alone in being hot, with all the months of 2019 so far ranking among the four warmest for their time of year, they said.

The latest figures come after June 2019 was recorded as the hottest June in the records.

Swallow

Record-breaking heatwaves gripped parts of the northern hemisphere in July, with the UK seeing a new high temperature of 38.7C (101.66F) set in Cambridge on Thursday July 25 as the country sweltered in the heat.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands also saw national records broken as exceptionally high temperatures gripped large parts of central and western Europe last week.

Earlier in the month, parts of the US suffered record-breaking hot conditions.

Prof Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said: “Months which break the global temperature record, such as July 2016 and June and July 2019, are now the expectation rather than a surprise since this is entirely consistent with the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human activities.

“Just as one swallow does not make a summer, one record month does not tell us much on its own since the fickle nature of weather systems and the slow sloshing about of the ocean can sometimes temporarily warm or cool the planet.

Fundamental

“However, the clustering of recent record hot years and months, the longer-term warming trend and our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere and oceans confirms that our climate is heating up, it’s our fault and the way to stop this is to reduce and begin removing emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Prof Dann Mitchell, associate professor of atmosphere science at the University of Bristol, said the current global data showed July was “probably the warmest on record”.

“The warming trend is clear and the scientific evidence robustly points to this being caused by human induced climate change.”

He warned: “A 1.2C increase in global temperature, as reported for this July, almost certainly means an even higher increase in temperature over land, and cities, which are known to warm faster than the oceans.”

Tens of thousands of people can die prematurely in heatwaves and such incidents were projected to get significantly worse in the future, so “fundamental infrastructure changes” are needed to adapt to climate change.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent. Image: Mr.TinDC. “So hot! My neighborhood in Columbia Heights definitely runs on the warm side. Thermometer not in direct sunlight.”

Boris Johnson’s government must invest in a new “sustainable industrial revolution” to deliver the recovery of nature and the climate, the chairs of two of its agencies have urged.

The Environment Agency’s Emma Howard Boyd and Natural England chairman Tony Juniper have called on new prime minister to make environmental issues a top priority.

And they have warned that where once environmental harm was seen as “the price of progress”, it is now apparent that a failure to reverse damage to nature, water quality, wildlife losses and climate change will halt progress.

Global scale

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy,” they say in a comment piece published on the Green Alliance website.

Their call comes as parts of the UK battle floods in the wake of a record-breaking heatwave, both extreme weather events which are becoming more likely in the face of climate change.

They warn that there is a pressing need to take action to avoid the biggest global-scale loss of species in more than 60 million years, in what has been described as the sixth mass extinction.

Ms Howard Boyd and Mr Juniper welcomed moves by Mr Johnson to back the new net zero emissions target to tackle climate change, which his predecessor Theresa May set into law before she left office.

But they warned “it is not, however, enough to say ‘we will leave the environment in a better state’, we need to also invest in delivery”.

Leadership

They called for the government to use the forthcoming spending review to invest in environmental recovery, which they argue would provide opportunities to deliver new clean tech and sustainable agriculture.

“We are convinced that now is the time to find the resources needed for the recovery of natural systems that sustain our society and economy,” the agency leaders said.

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy, making the recovery of the environment a sound economic investment.

“It would create huge opportunities to develop clean technologies and new forms of sustainable agriculture. It would also bolster the City of London’s leadership in green finance.

Wildlife

“This country was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and, at this critical juncture in the world’s future, now is the time to act and enable the UK to lead once again in a new Sustainable Industrial Revolution.

“If we invest in the recovery of nature and climate we know that it will increase long-term stability for our health, security and prosperity.

“This is the new reality and the present imperative. It is not, as some would see it, an optional ‘green’ choice that we can only afford in the good times.”

Measures to help the environment have public backing, and people are “rightly expecting action”, they added.

The Environment Agency and Natural England are public bodies with responsibility for areas including waste, pollution, water quality, flooding, wildlife and landscapes.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

This July is set to be the joint-warmest month on record for the world – and may even be the hottest ever seen, provisional figures indicate.

Figures suggest global average temperatures for the month will be “on a par with and possibly marginally higher” than those seen in July 2016, the previous warmest July – and warmest month overall – on record.

The assessment shows that July 2019 will have been around 1.2C (2.16F) above pre-industrial levels.

Hottest

The provisional assessment is based on data for July 1 to 29 from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Final, confirmed data for the month will be published on Monday.

The difference in temperatures between the months of July 2016 and 2019 in the assessment is smaller than the difference typically seen between the various sets of global data which the analysis uses, the experts said.

July is not alone in being hot, with all the months of 2019 so far ranking among the four warmest for their time of year, they said.

The latest figures come after June 2019 was recorded as the hottest June in the records.

Swallow

Record-breaking heatwaves gripped parts of the northern hemisphere in July, with the UK seeing a new high temperature of 38.7C (101.66F) set in Cambridge on Thursday July 25 as the country sweltered in the heat.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands also saw national records broken as exceptionally high temperatures gripped large parts of central and western Europe last week.

Earlier in the month, parts of the US suffered record-breaking hot conditions.

Prof Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said: “Months which break the global temperature record, such as July 2016 and June and July 2019, are now the expectation rather than a surprise since this is entirely consistent with the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human activities.

“Just as one swallow does not make a summer, one record month does not tell us much on its own since the fickle nature of weather systems and the slow sloshing about of the ocean can sometimes temporarily warm or cool the planet.

Fundamental

“However, the clustering of recent record hot years and months, the longer-term warming trend and our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere and oceans confirms that our climate is heating up, it’s our fault and the way to stop this is to reduce and begin removing emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Prof Dann Mitchell, associate professor of atmosphere science at the University of Bristol, said the current global data showed July was “probably the warmest on record”.

“The warming trend is clear and the scientific evidence robustly points to this being caused by human induced climate change.”

He warned: “A 1.2C increase in global temperature, as reported for this July, almost certainly means an even higher increase in temperature over land, and cities, which are known to warm faster than the oceans.”

Tens of thousands of people can die prematurely in heatwaves and such incidents were projected to get significantly worse in the future, so “fundamental infrastructure changes” are needed to adapt to climate change.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent. Image: Mr.TinDC. “So hot! My neighborhood in Columbia Heights definitely runs on the warm side. Thermometer not in direct sunlight.”

Boris Johnson’s government must invest in a new “sustainable industrial revolution” to deliver the recovery of nature and the climate, the chairs of two of its agencies have urged.

The Environment Agency’s Emma Howard Boyd and Natural England chairman Tony Juniper have called on new prime minister to make environmental issues a top priority.

And they have warned that where once environmental harm was seen as “the price of progress”, it is now apparent that a failure to reverse damage to nature, water quality, wildlife losses and climate change will halt progress.

Global scale

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy,” they say in a comment piece published on the Green Alliance website.

Their call comes as parts of the UK battle floods in the wake of a record-breaking heatwave, both extreme weather events which are becoming more likely in the face of climate change.

They warn that there is a pressing need to take action to avoid the biggest global-scale loss of species in more than 60 million years, in what has been described as the sixth mass extinction.

Ms Howard Boyd and Mr Juniper welcomed moves by Mr Johnson to back the new net zero emissions target to tackle climate change, which his predecessor Theresa May set into law before she left office.

But they warned “it is not, however, enough to say ‘we will leave the environment in a better state’, we need to also invest in delivery”.

Leadership

They called for the government to use the forthcoming spending review to invest in environmental recovery, which they argue would provide opportunities to deliver new clean tech and sustainable agriculture.

“We are convinced that now is the time to find the resources needed for the recovery of natural systems that sustain our society and economy,” the agency leaders said.

“A healthy environment is a necessary condition of a stable economy, making the recovery of the environment a sound economic investment.

“It would create huge opportunities to develop clean technologies and new forms of sustainable agriculture. It would also bolster the City of London’s leadership in green finance.

Wildlife

“This country was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and, at this critical juncture in the world’s future, now is the time to act and enable the UK to lead once again in a new Sustainable Industrial Revolution.

“If we invest in the recovery of nature and climate we know that it will increase long-term stability for our health, security and prosperity.

“This is the new reality and the present imperative. It is not, as some would see it, an optional ‘green’ choice that we can only afford in the good times.”

Measures to help the environment have public backing, and people are “rightly expecting action”, they added.

The Environment Agency and Natural England are public bodies with responsibility for areas including waste, pollution, water quality, flooding, wildlife and landscapes.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

The European Union was asked to ban labels like ‘veggie burger’ and ‘vegan sausage’ for meat-free products earlier this year. Many thought, amid Brexit chaos, that that was a strangely banal thing to be discussing. 

The amusing suggestion to exclude commonly used, conventional names has been called undemocratic, confusing, unnecessary, anti-innovation and etymologically unsound (‘sausage’ means ‘seasoned with salt’, nothing to do with any meat).

Headlines from “Veggie disc anyone? Europe plans to ban ‘veggie burger’ ” to “Europe heroically defends itself against veggie burgers” swept through the UK press, with journalists siding with animal welfare organisations protesting the suggested measures.

Consequences

The proposals are motivated by the economical concerns of the meat industry rather than the alleged customer confusion about buying meat-free products, the evidence of which we are still waiting to see.

Despite the amusing aspect of this story, there would be some serious consequences if by some miracle these ludicrous plans are implemented, as excessive administrative burdens would be caused to all public entities as this environmentally-friendly lifestyle is being attacked.

The Vegan Society has been campaigning in this area and has highlighted the proposals would not only impact vegans, but also public authorities that currently serve vegan food, such as government departments, health providers, education establishments, police forces and prisons.

The charity has legally challenged the plans in a formal letter to EU officials, signed by its CEO and prepared by a legal expert, on the grounds of breaching fundamental human rights of vegans that are set out by the Union.

The letter states the proposed measures contravene the EU consumers’ right to be informed adequately as to how goods can be used and denies the vegan community the benefits offered by EU law on clear labelling.

It adds that as consumers are increasingly moving away from eating animals, the meat, dairy and egg industries are feeling threatened and desperately trying to restrict the marketing of vegan products.

The 14-page letter includes an appendix with over 100 examples of plant-based food descriptors being used in the public and private sectors, suggesting many institutions would be affected. 

Legal protection

Public authorities are obliged to provide plant-based food to vegans in their care as veganism is a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.

Excessive amounts of time and money would have to be unnecessarily spent on revising menus in public sector institutions if the proposals are accepted.

The letter concludes that “the impact of this unreasonable and costly proposal should not be underestimated” as it is not in the public interest and, if implemented, would have a disproportional impact across society by affecting the normal daily functioning of all public and private entities that provide food.

European food labelling laws state that “food information should … enable consumers to identify and make appropriate use of food”, therefore the use of ‘meaty’ names informs the consumer how the plant-based products can be cooked and used.

Alternative vocabulary put forward such as ‘vegetable disc’ or ‘veggie tube’ does not constitute clear food labelling under EU consumer law because such terms do not describe or facilitate ease of interpretation, nor make it easy to perceive the food item in question.

Plummeting consumption

While this proposal has caused a smile on many faces, when we look into it deeper we can clearly see the desperation of the animal agriculture industries to stop the exponential growth of veganism and the overall plummeting consumption of meat, dairy and eggs.

In the face of growing concerns about climate change and deteriorating public health issues, plant-based diets should be encouraged as a way to minimise our impact on the planet and its inhabitants, instead of hindering the increased interest in ethical living.

This Author

Dominika Piasecka is media and PR officer at The Vegan Society and a keen vegan activist. If you care about the environment and want to learn about how veganism benefits it, take our seven-day planet-saving pledge here.

Andrew MacKillop was on The Ecologist’s editorial team during what is considered by many to have been the magazine’s glory years. 

Andrew and his fellows – Teddy goldsmith, Peter Bunyard, Jimoh Omo-Fadaka – strove to deliver the environmental message to a wider audience, buoyed by the political and economic uncertainty that followed in the wake of the first oil shock and the breakout success of A Blueprint For Survival (1972).

Alternative technology 

Andrew was born on 4 December 1944 in Berne, Switzerland, the ninth child of Douglas MacKillop and the third of his second wife Phyllis (nee Jackson). Another son was to follow ten years later – myself.

At the time, Douglas was working at the British Embassy (he gets a mention in Martin Gilbert’s Auschwtz and the Allies); at the cessation of hostilities, the family returned to London, finally settling in Dorset.

Andrew was sent to a boarding school at Iwerne Minster, from which he soon decamped; he was then allowed to continue his secondary education as a day boy at Blandford Grammar School. He went to University College London (UCL) in 1964; he was to remain there for the best part of a decade.

It was at UCL that he first became interested in more sustainable ways of living. Even in the sixties, the problems of ever increasing energy demand had begun to manifest themselves in such incidents as the power cut that affected the entire East coast of the USA in 1965.

This drew him to what was then known as “alternative technology”; strange, new ideas such as solar panels, wave powered generators and electricity generating windmills – all of which are widely available today at ever decreasing prices.

Into reality

In 1970 he managed to persuade UCL (where by now Andrew was lecturing) to allow him to establish a Building Ecology course for diploma students at its architecture department, with a view to incorporating this technology into housing stock.

His first book, Talking About the Environment, appeared in 1973 (Wayland). He also took time out to start a family, marrying Patricia Jacobs in 1969; their son Sol was born in 1971.

But Andrew was anxious to see his ideas pass from the printed page to reality; so when, in 1973 the editorial staff of The Ecologist invited him to join them with a view to developing some property they had acquired in Cornwall, he jumped at the chance.

His first act was to establish a company – Low Impact Technology – to promote and market the new technology. There was no shortage of interest; at its peak there were over 500 enquiries a week coming in, which began to overwhelm him.

I can attest to this; in the summer of 1974, he invited me to join him “for a holiday”. It turned out to be of the busman’s kind, when he presented me with the backlog of his correspondence; I cleared it in two weeks.

Focus on writing 

But the correspondence wasn’t the greatest problem; rather, it was the failure of the magazine to come up with the money he needed to get his ideas off the ground.

So as well as the company and his regular work for the magazine, he produced a slew of books; Hydropower and Methane (both published by Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1975) and Why Soft Technology? (Methuen 1975) in the hope that one of them might sell well enough to provide the money he needed. None did.

The strain began to tell; he and Patricia separated. He ended up going to Papua New Guinea to advise the newly independent government on energy policy.

On his return, he severed his connections with the magazine and decided to concentrate on writing. Two more books followed; The Oil Crisis and Economic Adjustments (Pinter, 1983) and Technology Employment and Development Implications of New and Renewable Sources of Energy (International Labour Office, 1983).

Andrew came to the notice of the European Parliament and worked there as an adviser for a short time. He moved to France, near Lyons and remarried, to Clare Mulkeen; two more children followed, Fionn (1980) and Sophie (1986).

False dawn

It proved to be a false dawn; book commissions dried up, forcing him to take on translation work to make ends meet. When this marriage broke down in turn, he began to cut himself off from his family and friends.

He returned to the UK. One last book followed; The Final Energy Crisis (Pluto, 2005). An ironic title, perhaps.

A smoker for many years, his health began to deteriorate until he died of pneumonia in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on the 11 December 2018. Patricia, Sol, Clare, Fionn and Sophie all survive him.

This Author

Ian MacKillop is Andrew’s younger brother. He makes a living as a locum pharmacist.

What do Barclays and Steve Buscemi have in common? One is a multinational bank and the other a respected actor. So not much. Except if Barclays’ brazen sponsorship of Pride parades was a meme, it would be the queer version of Steve Buscemi in 30 Rock adorning a reverse baseball cap, skateboard and ‘music band’ t-shirt asking “how do you do, fellow kids?’ 

Barclays’ insistence on affirming their LGBTQ+ credentials every Pride season is largely indicative of the corporate co-option of the marches that have their roots in radical protest. 

Barclays have spent months occupying the spotlight for all the wrong reasons: their financing of fossil fuels and climate breakdown; and (now cleared) charges of fraud levelled at former CEO John Varley. You might have thought they’d appreciate a summer off? Wrong. No rest for the wicked. 

Fossil fuels

Plastering their logo over anything with a rainbow, and indeed a rainbow over their logo, is Barclays’ way of portraying itself as ‘cool’ and ‘progressive’. The irony here being Barclays’ significant contribution to accelerating planetary heating and profiting from a financial system which relentlessly dispossess, emmiserates and deepens inequality. Groovy. 

Someone, concerned: “Barclays, please stop funding fossil fuels.” Barclays, pink-washingly: “How do you do, fellow gays?”

Despite years of grassroots and NGO pressure for them to stop profiting from climate breakdown, between 2016 and 2018 Barclays provided $85.176bn to companies behind fossil fuel extraction. Banking on Climate Change – a report produced by BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network and others – ranked Barclays as the worst bank in the UK and Europe when it comes to fossil fuels financing. They’re sixth worst in the world. 

Although Barclays have excluded coal projects from their financing, they continue to fund the companies behind coal mining alongside tar sands pipelines, oil and gas. 

Just one week before Barclay’s 2019 AGM, however, the bank sold its majority stake in fracking company Third Energy. This was the company seeking to frack at the Kirby Misperton site in North Yorkshire. 

After persistent grassroots campaigning from students to grandmas and a coalition of organisations, Barclays told its 2017 AGM that it would exit fracking. At the 2018 meeting, the Chairman indicated that they would sell Third Energy only when fracking had begun. This was met by disruption of the meeting by People & Planet activists. 

Protest

Barclays’ eventual sale of Third Energy has set a precedent for public pressure influencing the bank’s energy policy. Campaigners can use every tool at our disposal to wreck Barclays’ reputation, including frustrating their pursuit of the ‘pink pound’, to force them to drop fossil fuels. 

Black Pride and Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants have kept the spirit of “Pride is a protest!” alive in recent years. We can learn from them to organise resistance to the cynical use of Pride by Barclays and other corporate behemoths to bolster their reputations? Without this, the LGBTQ+ movement cannot reasonably seek to reaffirm the radical history of Pride through placards, chants and think-pieces while passively participating in its co-option by capital. 

It’s time queer organisers face up to the cosy proximity of the community to the corporations driving climate injustice. And take action accordingly. It’s time Barclays is made explicitly unwelcome at Pride as they continue to profit from the imminent planetary heating that will cause so much death and suffering. Not unreasonable. 

Organisers of Pride parades should take the initiative to drop Barclays’ as sponsors. If they don’t, participants should disrupt Barclays’ presence at the parades. In 2020, queer students from People & Planet will be making it clear there can be no pride in Barclays; no pride in climate breakdown; no pride in greedy banks. 

This Author

Chris Saltmarsh is co-director of climate change campaigns at People & Planet. He tweets at @chris_saltmarsh. 

UK climate change laws should be extended to other areas of “environmental breakdown” with binding targets to protect natural systems, a think tank has said.

A new “Sustainable Economy Act” should set legal targets in areas such as wildlife, soil fertility and air quality, in addition to the greenhouse gas limits set by the Climate Change Act, IPPR argues in a new paper.

And there should be deeper changes to economic thinking to ensure the UK is living within its natural means.

Binding

A new Sustainable Economy Act should include binding targets, a new committee on sustainability to advise the Government similar to the expert Committee on Climate Change and a new enforcement body to hold ministers to account on environmental regulations.

IPPR warns that existing European Union safeguards on the environment will fall away without new legislation after Brexit.

The Government’s draft Environment Bill for protecting the environment post-Brexit could provide the way to do this, but currently fails to introduce legally binding targets or interim goals needed to drive improvements, it said.

Crucial

New targets should also cover the wider environmental impact of all economic activity on these natural systems including on countries that export goods and services to the UK, the think tank’s paper argues.

Laurie Laybourn-Langton, the paper’s lead author, said: “The Climate Change Act and the UK’s target of net-zero decarbonisation by 2050 effectively places a greenhouse gas constraint on the economy.

“It is vital that similar constraints are extended to all the areas of environmental breakdown. A Sustainable Economy Act can do this.

“We urgently need to rethink economics so that we can continue to live within the UK’s and the planet’s means – protecting the many natural systems that are crucial to everyone’s ability to lead good lives in a way that is just, sustainable and prepared.”

Extensive

Luke Murphy, head of IPPR’s Environmental Justice Commission, said the Climate Change Act was a “revolutionary” piece of legislation that required the Government to limit greenhouse gas emissions to levels set in law – but climate change was not the only environmental threat.

“The Climate Change Act was a revolutionary piece of legislation that required the Government to limit the total carbon emissions of the UK to levels set in law.

“With much of the UK’s environmental policy deriving from our membership of the EU there is an even greater and more urgent need to put in place a Sustainable Economy Act to protect all aspects of our environment after Brexit – with or without a deal.

“This should be supported by a new Committee on Sustainability to advise the Government and a new enforcement body with extensive powers to hold the Government to account.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.