Energy & Environment

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.