Blue & Green Daily: Friday 21 February headlines

Blue & Green Daily finds and summarises the top sustainability stories around the web every morning. We start with our own picks from Blue & Green Tomorrow.

The good, the bad and the ugly: what are pension funds doing about climate change?

Sustainable tourism: ‘going green’ doesn’t just mean a splash of colour

New Fair Tax Mark highlights responsible businesses

Wind power saves Ireland €1bn in fossil fuel imports over five years

Welfare system failing, say Church of England bishops

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21 February headlines

European Commission to take legal action against Britain over high levels of dangerous gas

The UK is facing fines of up to £300 million a year over its failure to cut levels of a gas believed to cause premature death and affect the growth of children’s lungs. The European Commission said it was taking legal action against Britain because it had not come up with a plan to get the amount of nitrogen dioxide below agreed limits. Independent.

Winter wettest on record – Met Office

With a week to go in the winter, the UK’s rainfall record for the season has already been broken. The incessant storms and rainfall over the past two months have made this the wettest winter since records began in 1910, according to provisional figures from the Met Office. BBC.

Pay farmers for water management under CAP, says National Trust official

Farmers should be paid for water management under common agricultural policy, according to a senior figure at the National Trust. Peter Nixon, head of land, landscape and nature, added that the winter’s floods were precisely what he warned of and worked on policies to mitigate over the last decade. Guardian.

Shale gas haltered in UK by six-month permit wait

In the UK it takes six months to get permission to use hydraulic fracturing to drill for oil and gas, compared to just seven days in Texas, US. This helps explain why fracking has moved at a slower pace in the UK despite the government being more pro-shale than anywhere in the European Unions bar Poland. Bloomberg.

RBS plans dramatic scaling back

Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing a dramatic retrenchment that would see it become a much smaller UK retail and commercial bank in a move that is expected to slash staff numbers by at least 30,000. Next week the bank, which is 81% owned by the government, is expected to announce its withdrawal from many of its riskier banking activities. Financial Times.

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Interesting picks

Our government needs to make more noise about TTIP – Financial Times

Are humans causing more sinkholes? – Guardian

Is polar warming to blame for America and Britain’s bad winter weather? – Economist

Parents: your pensions are screwing up your children’s future – Guardian