Eco Chamber

On this week’s podcast, special guest Dr Anupama Sen, head of policy engagement for the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford joins host James Agyepong-Parsons. The pair discusses the risks and rewards of the government’s recent decision to approve the Jackdaw gas field, the looming decision over Rosebank and whether or not the prime minister can square either decision with his net zero commitments.Dr Sen believes that the decision is potentially damaging on the international stage as climate delegates head to COP31 in Antalya, Turkey next month. PLUSHSE loses a landmark legal case over public access to farmers’ pesticide recordsNorthern Ireland moves towards a national biomethane strategyAnd COP 17 draws to a close. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s podcast, Julia Baker, the global lead on nature at consultancy Mott MacDonald discusses the risks facing junior ecologists in a new age of AI adoption within the environmental profession. Baker shares her experiences of where the use of AI has benefitted her professional world, how the next generation of ecologists can benefit from it, and the warning signs of what to avoid. For Baker, safeguards are needed. Young ecologists entering into the profession need to seek out the companies that are putting those safety measures in place. But her advice comes at a time when the heads of AI companies have called for greater regulation from lawmakers, and AI safety engineers have warned of a potential impending apocalypse.PLUSSolent seabird numbers soar years after bird flu devastation.. DEFRA reveals a new plan for organic farmers.And Anglian Water’s £1.6m sewage blunder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natural England has taken a bruising in political circles in recent months, but particularly in the last week, after the Conservative Party outlined plans to abolish the watchdog were it to be in government.In September, Reform UK also threatened to abolish Natural England should it ever form a government, and the regulator has also come under recent criticism from a Liberal Democrat MP who chairs the Environment, Farming, and Rural Affairs committee.The news may sound like déjà vu – in the later years of the most recent Conservative governments, Natural England became wrapped up in what NGOs dubbed an ‘attack on nature’. But is it different this time?On this week’s ECO Chamber, special guest Sally Hayns, chief executive of The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management joins podcast host Tess Colley and ENDS Report editor in chief, Jamie Carpenter, to put the latest attacks in context.PLUS: The new taskforce on ‘climate security’; why the Tory shadow environment minister is calling for the Welsh environmental regulator to be scrapped; and the net zero chief who has just left his position in the government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaking live from the conference in Birmingham, ENDS Report editor Jamie Carpenter breaks down the most important green policy announcements from the party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, and her shadow cabinet. The party has set out plans to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency, withdraw the UK from the Aarhus Convention and scrap the Future Homes Standard. With extensive coverage from across the conference, this on-the-ground episode of the ECO Chamber is brought to you by the journalists of ENDS Report.Plus:-Natural England will only provide ‘bespoke’ planning advice moving forwards.The Green Party has pledged to bring two water companies under public ownership. A water company has been slapped with £8m in fines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Labour Party Conference has concluded.The party entered its annual conference with a polling boost holding a four-point lead: 27% of the vote, under the newly-elected prime minister.On the main stage, Burnham used his address to focus on pensions, electoral reform, devolution, and a national care service. On the environment he pledged that “a strengthened water bill” will be brought forward to Parliament, the “centerpiece” of which will be “the repeal of Margaret Thatcher’s ideological ban on public ownership of water companies”. In this week’s episode, brought to you from the conference floor, the ENDS team speaks to DEFRA secretary Angela Eagle and hears from experts across the sector including:Matthew Brown, head of public affairs at The Wildlife TrustsMartin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming NetworkMary-Ann Ochota, president of Campaign to Protect Rural EnglandBill Eyres, co-chair of Labour’s Environment Campaign – SERAWith extensive coverage from across the conference, this special episode of the ECO Chamber is brought to you by the journalists of ENDS Report. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.