Energy & Environment

Move comes after PAC blasts Nuclear Management Partners for handling of operations at Sellafield

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) will receive joint funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Somerset County Council as part of the Somerset Action Plan (SAP), it was announced Monday 8 December. 

The first national UK shale college was announced by Business, Enterprise & Energy minister Matthew Hancock today. 

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has announced plans to centralise TB testing on farms to ensure greater efficiency from April 2015. 

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is launching a new strategy to support and protect bees and other pollinators in the UK. 

The Department of Energy & Climate Change’s (DECC’s) current offshore licensing round is set to be the biggest round of licensing since 1964.

The Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is asking key figures in the oil and gas industry for their views on the sanctions regime and cost recovery mechanisms of the newly established Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), as part of a consultation on the Wood Review. 

Andy Samuel has been appointed as the chief executive of the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) flood defence resources are limited and current spending is “insufficient to meet many of the maintenance needs” identified by the Environment Agency (EA), the National Audit Office (NAO) said today.

Sir Jonathon Porritt has been an environmental campaigner for 40 years – including nine spent working directly with civil servants. He tells Winnie Agbonlahor why, despite his disappointment with the ‘greenest government ever’, he has reasons to be optimistic

Improving Europe’s railway systems would lead to substantial economic and environmental benefits, argues Izaskun Bilbao Barandica.

As chairman of the Environment Agency, Chris Smith had even more reason than most Brits to curse the weather last winter.

The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has been “instrumental” in making Britain “one of the best places for green investment anywhere in the world”, prime minister David Cameron said today.

Defra have confirmed that the 5p plastic bag charge will be introduced in England in October 2015.

John Hirst, chief executive of the Met Office, is leaving the civil service in September after seven years in the role.

The Crown Commercial Service has started purchasing energy tariffs for all government departments, launching a project last week to invite bids for a 15-year deal from renewable energy generators.

More than 100 civil servants in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have got their boots muddy in a series of farm visits aimed at improving their understanding of farming.

AECOM’s Associate Director of Sustainability, Michael Henderson, considers the environmental and economic benefits of effective water management in urban areas.

With the environment department badly hit in the Spending Review, many of its agencies saw hefty cuts. Joshua Chambers speaks to Dave Webster, chief executive of Natural England, on how the quango wielded its secateurs.

Extreme rain, storms and tides have combined to overwhelm our flood defences – but defences can only ever be a backstop. Stuart Watson explores how public agencies could work together to minimise the danger of floods.

Paul Leinster faces growing threats, a declining budget, and objectives that don’t always line up – but the Environment Agency chief seems thoroughly at home. Matt Ross meets a man coping with complexity

Paul Leinster faces growing threats, a declining budget, and objectives that don’t always line up – but the Environment Agency chief seems thoroughly at home. Matt Ross meets a man coping with complexity