There has been an undeniable sense of urgency about the new government since the Labour Party won a landslide victory in the general election. Sir Keir Starmer was quick to appoint his new cabinet last week, with most positions filled by those who had shadowed their post in opposition. Then on Monday, the new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced an end to the de facto ban on onshore wind as Labour bids to deliver its ambitious (and some would argue unrealistic) target to achieve a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030.
New Defra secretary of state Steve Reed has also been busy outlining his five core priorities. In keeping with Labour’s manifesto, Reed gave little in the way of detail when he spoke in a video posted to X of his desire to clean up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas; create a roadmap to move Britain to a zero waste economy; support farmers to boost Britain’s food security; ensure nature’s recovery; and protect communities from the dangers of flooding.
Arguably the most significant environmental news this week came from Ed Miliband’s department for energy security and net-zero with the announcement that former climate change committee chief executive Chris Stark is to lead a new control centre to deliver the government’s clean power mission by 2030. Stark, who is currently CEO of the Carbon Trust, is highly regarded both within and outside of Whitehall for his climate leadership, albeit the challenge of accelerating the move away from fossil fuels to home grown renewable energy is surely his greatest yet.
The Zero Carbon Forum has described the pledge to decarbonise the power system by 2030 as “a positive and necessary step”, however it has published analysis showing that the energy transition alone will reduce only about half of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. “The other half can only be addressed by transforming to a regenerative food system and adopting a circular approach to how we make and use products and materials,” said Mark Chapman, founder of the organisation that is working to decarbonise the hospitality and brewing sector. “We are running as fast as we can, but the government plays a critical role in lowering the barriers and unlocking the opportunities that climate action presents. There is more to do than just an energy transition. We ask the government to support the food and drink industry across the value chain,” Chapman added.
Interest in regenerative farming is certainly gathering pace (as was evident by the number of visitors to last month’s Groundswell festival). Regenerative agriculture initiative, Regenagri, has reported that the area of land under its certification tripled from 487,000 hectares in 2022, to over 1.46 million hectares in 2023. The programme now supports more than 230,000 farms and 855 supply chain operators globally, prompting Regenagri CEO Franco Costantini to declare that the standards “are fast becoming the industry benchmark”.
At a more local level, Sodexo has announced a new partnership with Full Circle Farms via its The Good Eating Company (GEC) brand which will see the business take a one acre plot at the community farm in West Sussex, which prioritises soil health and biodiversity. Full Circle Farms offers foodservice providers an opportunity to own and grow on their own plot of farmed land. Each plot is allocated a full farming team who work with chefs to assess the restaurants’ requirements and grow and deliver produce for them. Sodexo said a huge variety of vegetables and herbs including unusual varieties such as rainbow chard, golden beetroot, pak choi, kale, swede, rocket and lemon balm, will be grown on GEC’s plot.
And finally this week, following the news that Asda is axing its dedicated refill stores (see separate news story), there is welcome evidence that reuse is gathering momentum in hospitality. Reuse platform Clubzerø has once again teamed up with Barclays to provide a circular solution at this year’s Wimbledon tennis championships. Last year, Clubzerø provided juices in returnable cold cups and this year it has gone a step further by offering Barclays customers strawberries and cream ice-cream in returnable pots. “It is critical to establish standards for returnable packaging and we are thrilled to be pioneering this through our continued work at the Championships, Wimbledon in partnership with Barclays,” said Safia Qureshi, founder and CEO of Clubzerø.
That’s game, set and match for this week’s roundup!
