Environment

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor London's skyline is set to grow even higher as a newly planned skyscraper could become the capitals second tallest building. The 73-storey building, will be 309.6 meters tall, and will be called 1 Undershaft. The building is exactly the same height as the Shard and is also the maximum size the Civil Aviation Authority will allow. 1 Undershaft will be much larger than its neighbour the Gherkin. It will have a public viewing gallery which...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The world climate conference in Paris hopes to move global energy from fossil fuel to renewable energy, but one country in South America has already achieved this aim. In under a decade, Uruguay has manage to combat its carbon footprint without the need for government subsidies or rising costs to the general population. Uruguay uses renewable energy to provide 94.5% of their electricity and prices are now lower. As if that wasn't enough good news,...

By Denise Hatton, Chief Executive at YMCA England Youth homelessness in London is a problem; and unfortunately for our current and future client base, it's a growing one. If you look at that statistics* alone, 871 people aged 18 to 25-years-old slept rough in the capital for at least one night in 2014-15. This should be an alarming statistic to anyone who counts London as their home, but it becomes even more acute when combined with the fact it also...

By Lauren Devine Renewable World is an international NGO with a handle on two of the most pressing global crises we face: the eradication of poverty and climate change. Their mission is to improve health, income and education opportunities for some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities, using climate-friendly methods and sustainable energy sources. Championed as the non-profit organisation of the UK renewable energy industry by renewable trade associations such as Renewable UK and Scottish Renewables, Renewable World works to...

By Lewis Garland “Black Friday” evokes images of feral, foraging bargain hunters and TV screen tug-of-wars. Now in its fourth year, Giving Tuesday has become something of an antidote to these consumerist excesses. Taking place on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, GivingTuesday is a global day of philanthropy . The emergence of Giving Tuesday has created a valuable space for the voices of charities, altruistic causes and community projects, rarely heard amid the clunking of shopping trollies....

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor London Mayor Boris Johnson has called the plan for Hinkley Point "a disgrace." - just a few weeks after the PM announced a landmark deal with the Chinese to build it. Cameron called it a "flagship project of cooperation" between the two countries. But Boris has broke ranks and said the £18n cost for the first nuclear power in two decades underwritten with £2bn of taxpayers' money was an "extraordinary amount of money to spend"....

By Steve Taggart The cost of offshore wind power could be reduced dramatically due to floating wind turbines. They could be generating power in UK waters by 2020, much cheaper than the cost of new nuclear. There are a number of designs in development and the race is on to prove that this floating technology can be a power source for states who have access to a coastline. Countries would anchor wind farms near their major cities and numerous places...

By Ryan Carter @rwscarter There is a beautiful bottom-up revolution underway in the energy market, but like all revolutions there is hurdles the question is can the state facilitate the green revolution, I think it should. This requires putting into reverse how the state has been seen in market interventions as a monolithic agent ‘crowding-out’ competition. I believe that the state can and should act smart and counter to popular opinion 'crowd-in' the market, breaking the hegemonic cartel of the...

This week warnings from climate change scientists this informed us that the world is halfway towards the threshold that could result in dangerous climate change, revealing that average global temperatures have recorded a rise of one degree Celsius for the first time. The met office informed us that record warm temperatures measured in the first nine months of this year mean that the world has already reached the halfway point towards the arbitrary “threshold” of a 2C increase on pre-industrial...