Environmental politics

The UK government’s pledge to uphold high agricultural standards after Brexit has come under fire from US and Australian officials, who have made the case for the controversial food products hormone-treated beef and chlorinated chicken

The former executive director of NGO the Carbon Disclosure Project Nigel Topping has been appointed by the government as the High Level Climate Action Champion for UN climate talks, COP26

DEFRA’s last-minute intervention to pull the plug on a badger cull, against the advice of its own scientific advisers, will be probed in the High Court

A citizens’ assembly made up of people from across the UK met for the first time over the weekend to discuss how the government is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050

Northern Ireland’s environment minister has given a cautious welcome to ambitions to set up an independent agency to oversee binding environmental targets

Downing Street has hinted at major changes in Whitehall once the UK leaves the EU. But with DEFRA already grappling with a huge workload, does a shake-up make sense? Simon Pickstone investigates

The West Midlands Combined Authority has proposed reducing the region’s greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 13% each year to 2041, in reaction to the climate crisis

A government-commissioned review into the future of the controversial HS2 north-south rail-link has come under fire for appearing to omit environmental costs from its deliberations. Isabella Kaminski reports

With the UK set to formally leave the EU at the end of this month, fundamental changes to environmental policy and legislation are on the cards. ENDS checks the policy radar to identify what you need to prepare for in the coming year

What would need to happen for the widescale, long-term and severe destruction of the environment to be made an international crime?