The UK government has announced a series of steps for the coming years to expand its Emission Trading Scheme, including for the first time bringing domestic shipping into the program. Experts highlight that it is another example of individual countries taking steps to reduce emissions in the lack of international agreements for industries such as shipping that reach beyond domestic borders.

The announcement that shipping will be required to participate in the program starting in 2026 comes as the International Maritime Organization struggles to reach a consensus at the ongoing International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting.

According to the announcement, the UK government chose to put the announcement out now to provide shipping and other industries time to begin planning for the changes that will begin in 2024 and be phased into the program over the next few years.

Read More

According to a report by Environmental Audit Committee MPs, England’s rivers are “in a mess”, contaminated by “a chemical cocktail” of sewage, agricultural waste and pollution.

Therefore it was great to read that there has been a boom in citizen scientists turning their attention to the health of the nation’s waterways, which also featured my protest at COP26.

Lets all collectively continue dialogue to restore the health of our rivers and oceans.

Read More

The UK Hydrographic Office are looking for innovators to help discover a solution to diffuse coastal pollution.

If you’re an innovator or someone who cares about the environment and wants to make an impact, then why not to join the challenge!

The #DiffuseChallenge with Geovation deadline 20th Feb.

Read More

Southern Water awaits sentencing after admitting 51 violations for dumping raw sewage into sea for years

WORK is progressing on this project of national importance to install new dual function lock gates on the Thames Estuary in Tilbury.

EDP Renewables and Engie’s Ocean Winds (OW) joint venture has delivered first power from the 950MW Moray East offshore wind farm off the coast of Scotland.

With fundamentally important scientific questions and issues still remaining to be tackled in the coming years, Cefas has launched a new Fisheries International Centre of Excellence (ICoE) which aims to become the international go-to source of advice for successful fisheries management. 

Key to the work of the Centre are four key science pillars: (i) the collection of high-quality data, (ii) quality assurance and stewardship of both historic and contemporary data, (iii) robust data analyses, including novel approaches to assessing and understanding the status of fish and shellfish stocks, and (iv) scientific outputs, which include contributions to ICES’ Working Groups, peer-reviewed publications and advice to Governments and other relevant bodies such as the National Maritime  Fisheries Working Group (London & South East)

Read More

The Marine Conservation Society has released a new report in partnership with Rewilding Britain which outlines the importance of the UK’s seas in helping the UK to reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

It is hoped that the report, entitled Blue Carbon – Ocean-based solutions to fight the climate crisis will persuade politicians and the public alike that ‘rewilding’ the ocean’s ecosystems will aid in the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be stored in ‘natural solutions’, a process becoming known as ‘blue carbon’

They are calling on the UK Government and devolved administrations to act with urgency to invest in, co-develop and implement a four-nation Blue Carbon Strategy.

The suggested strategy focuses on three key action areas:

– Scaling up marine rewilding for biodiversity and blue carbon benefits

– Integrating blue carbon protection and recovery into climate mitigation and environmental management policies

– Working with the private sector to develop and support sustainable and innovative low-carbon commercial fisheries and aquaculture.

Read More

Seagrass meadows are believed to be retreating around 7% per year globally, according to the most recent seagrass census.

Seagrasses play a large role in regulating ocean environments, storing more than twice as much carbon from planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) per square mile as forests do on land.

Pollution from mining and damage by fisheries may have helped to eliminate 92% of mainland Britain’s seagrasses in over a century, according to a March 4 study in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

If still intact, these could have supported around 400 million fish and stored up to 11.5 million tonnes of carbon — equivalent to 3% of Britain’s CO2 emissions in 2017, the study said.

Read More