Blue & Green Daily: Wednesday 16 July 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.

Lessons in sustainability from the city that touches the clouds

Sustainable Investment Bootcamp, Edinburgh – review

Liz Truss to replace Owen Paterson as environment secretary

Carbon budgets can be met but policies must be strengthened, advisers warn

Sustainable transport: growth of UK car industry driven by climate change policies

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16 July

Plastic bag use rises for fourth year

The number of plastic bags given out in UK supermarkets has risen for the fourth year running, to 8.3 billion bags a year, official figures show. The rising consumption comes ahead of a 5p charge in England that will be introduced in 2015 after the general election, and a 5p charge in Scotland due to come into force this autumn. Guardian.

Climate Change Committee blames government over slow rate of progress in reducing UK carbon emissions

The government is on course to significantly undershoot a legally binding target to reduce carbon emissions, after the coalition scrapped a successful subsided home insulation programme and replaced it with the failing green deal, according to advisers.  A report from the Climate Change Committee points out that just 170,000 cavity walls were insulated in 2013, down from more than 600,000 in 2012. Independent.

Science minister has tough job to follow

Greg Clark has a tough act to follow as the new science and universities minister, commentators say. He will combine the role with his existing portfolio as cities minister. One of Clark’s first tasks will be to convince the research community that the importance of science has not been downgraded as a result of the merger. BBC.

Ethiopian farmer takes UK to court over ‘brutal’ resettlement policy

The UK’s Department for International Development is to face a full judicial review over its alleged funding of rights abuses in Ethiopia. On Monday, a high court judge ruled that ‘Mr O’, an Ethiopian farmer who claims that British aid helped fund a brutal forced resettlement programme in his home country, has an arguable case against the UK government. Guardian.

Strong el nino seen unlikely by Australia as Pacific cools

The odds of a strong el nino, which brings drought to the Asia-Pacific region and heavy rains to South America, are increasingly unlikely after the tropical Pacific Ocean cooled, according to Australia’s weather bureau. A general lack of atmospheric response over the last month resulted in some cooling, the Bureau of Meteorology has said. Bloomberg.

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Interesting picks

David Cameron’s reshuffle gets rid of the ‘green crap’ – Guardian

ESG: do we need minimum standards? – Professional Pensions

Ban neonicotinoids now – to avert another silent spring – Guardian

Photo: Sanja gjenero via Freeimages