10 Climate Policies Britain Needs Now, From Grey Water to Cool Spaces
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- UK Energy Research Council dismisses the case for new North Sea drilling, stating "assertions that drilling the North Sea will provide energy resilience and affordability in the face of current fuel price shocks are a delusion," and urges rejection of licences for the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields.
- The eight biggest oil companies posted $93bn in profits in the three months to end of June, almost double the year-ago period, which the piece says should fund adaptation measures via an increased windfall tax.
- The UK water industry has paid out more than £85bn to shareholders while losing roughly a fifth of its water to leakage and running up debts of more than £60bn, prompting the call to bring the sector under public control backed by campaigners including Surfers Against Sewage.
- UK fire brigades lack any dedicated water-bombing aircraft, relying instead on privately chartered commercial helicopters with suspended buckets, in contrast to Spain's amphibious plane and helicopter fleet.
- The Trades Union Congress, backed by the Climate Change Committee, wants employers to act once indoor temperatures exceed 24C and a legal right for workers to stop work at 30C, or 27C for strenuous roles, after teachers and bus drivers reported conditions above 40C during June's heatwaves.
- Regenerative farming increased soil moisture content by 23% in one cited study, and water policy lead Alastair Chisholm of Arup said shifting UK agricultural policy toward these methods would be "an easy win to boost food security."
- Dr Thami Croeser of RMIT University warned "every mature tree lost now is irreplaceable on the timeline that matters for current heatwaves," noting newly planted trees take 15-20 years to shade buildings while neighbourhoods with over 20% canopy already see net cooling.
Why it matters: Directed explicitly at Andy Burnham's government, the list mixes immediate-cost measures (rejecting Jackdaw/Rosebank, hiking the oil windfall tax on $93bn of quarterly profits) with longer-term infrastructure asks (public water control after £85bn in shareholder payouts, a national retrofit programme). If adopted, the policies would redirect billions from fossil-fuel producers and water shareholders toward adaptation, and would create the UK's first legal maximum workplace temperature and firefighter aerial fleet.
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