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UK Flood Defense Spending to Reach Record Levels in Face of Climate Crisis

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09 Feb, 2025

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

The government of the United Kingdom has announced a record flood protection package that includes an additional 250 million pounds to better protect tens of thousands of England’s homes and businesses.

As part of the government’s Plan for Change, it is committing 2.65 billion pounds over two years to fund flood defenses for 52,000 properties by March of 2026, a press release from the UK government said. The record funding will also include needed maintenance at an additional 14,500 properties.

“With the frequency of extreme weather events only continuing to rise, leading to devastating impacts for people, homes, businesses and communities and costing the UK economy billions each year, decisive action to invest in adapting to climate change has never been more important,” the press release said.

The Rose & Crown pub in Worcester flooded by the River Severn, following heavy rainfall, on Jan. 4, 2024. David Davies / PA Images via Getty Images

The funding will also protect farmland recently impacted by storms.

“The storms this winter have devastated lives and livelihoods. The role of any Government is to protect its citizens. Under our Plan for Change, we are investing a record £2.65 billion to build and maintenance flood defences to protect lives, homes and businesses from the dangers of flooding,” said Steve Reed, environment, food and rural affairs secretary, in the press release.

The announcement came as the government’s Floods Resilience Taskforce met on Monday. Ministers joined representatives from Local Resilience Forums, the National Farmers’ Union and the Met Office.

They explored potential further steps to protect the more than six million properties that are at risk of flooding in England.

As many as 1,000 projects will receive a portion of the investment program funds. Some of the funding — 140 million pounds — will be put toward 31 projects on a priority basis.

With the climate crisis contributing to increasing weather extremes, including more frequent flooding, a growing number of homes and businesses are projected to be affected by flooding in the future.

“The impact of flooding on our communities will only become greater as climate change brings more extreme weather, like Storms Bert, Conall and Éowyn,” said Alan Lovell, chair of the Environment Agency, in the press release. “With this new funding, we will work closely with the Government to deliver the vital projects that are needed across the country, ensuring our investment goes to those communities who need it the most.”

Flood Minister Emma Hardy called the lack of investment by the previous Conservative government a “dereliction of duty,” reported The Guardian.

“We inherited flood assets in the worst condition on record, which I think is arguably a dereliction of duty of the last government,” Hardy said. “The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens, and they’re failing to protect citizens from flooding, putting lives at risk, putting businesses at risk, putting homes at risk. So what we’re saying is we need this massive increase in the budget to £2.65bn.”

New modelling shows the number of UK homes expected to flood has risen much higher than previously expected.

Flood protection plans have been cut by 40% in recent years because of a lack of investment in defences, with a quarter of major projects abandoned.

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— Unearthed (@unearthednews.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 1:57 AM

The post UK Flood Defense Spending to Reach Record Levels in Face of Climate Crisis appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

In June, I had the privilege of attending the 2025 E-Waste World, Battery Recycling, Metal Recycling, and ITAD & Circular Electronics Conference & Expo events in Frankfurt, Germany.

Speaking in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track on a panel with global Circular Economy leaders from Foxway Group, ERI and HP, we explored the evolving role of IT asset disposition (ITAD) and opportunities in the circular electronics economy.

The event’s focus on advancing circular economy goals and reducing environmental impact delivered a series of insights and learnings. From this assembly of international expertise across 75+ countries, here are some points from the presentations that stood out for me:

1. Environmental impact of the digital economy

Digitalisation has a heavy material footprint in the production phase, and lifecycle thinking needs to guide every product decision. Consider that 81% of the energy a laptop uses in its lifetime is consumed during manufacture (1 tonne in manufacture is equal to 10,000 tonnes of CO2) and laptops are typically refreshed or replaced by companies every 3–4 years.

From 2018 to 2023, the average number of devices and connections per capita in the world increased by 50% (2.4 to 3.6). In North America (8.2 to 13.4) and Western Europe (5.6 to 9.4), this almost doubled. In 1960, only 10 periodic table elements were used to make phones. In 1990, 27 elements were used and now over 60 elements are used to build the smartphones that we have become so reliant on.

A key challenge is that low-carbon and digital technologies largely compete for the same minerals. Material resource extraction could increase 60% between 2020 and 2060, while demand for lithium, cobalt and graphite is expected to rise by 500% until 2050.

High growth in ICT demand and Internet requires more attention to the environmental footprint of the digital economy. Energy consumption of data centres is expected to more than double by 2026. The electronics industry accounts for over 4% of global GHG — and digitalisation-related waste is growing, with skewed impacts on developing countries.

E-waste is rising five times faster than recycling — 1 tonne of e-waste has a carbon footprint of 2 tonnes. Today’s solution? ‘Bury it or burn it.’ In terms of spent emissions, waste and the costs associated with end-of-life liabilities, PCBAs (printed circuit board assembly) cost us enormously — they generally achieve 3–5% recyclability (75% of CO2 in PCBAs is from components).

2. Regulating circularity in electronics

There is good momentum across jurisdictions in right-to-repair, design and labelling regulations; recycling targets; and voluntary frameworks on circularity and eco-design.

The EU is at the forefront. EU legislation is lifting the ICT aftermarket, providing new opportunities for IT asset disposition (ITAD) businesses. To get a sense, the global market for electronics recycling is estimated to grow from $37 billion to $108 billion (2022–2030). The value of refurbished electronics is estimated to increase from $85.9 billion to $262.2 billion (2022–2032). Strikingly, 40% of companies do not have a formal ITAD strategy in place.

Significantly, the EU is rethinking its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management targets, aligned with upcoming circularity and WEEE legislation, as part of efforts to foster the circular economy. A more robust and realistic circularity-driven approach to setting collection targets would better reflect various factors including long lifespans of electronic products and market fluctuations.

Australia and New Zealand lag the EU’s comprehensive e-waste mandated frameworks. The lack of a systematic approach results in environmental degradation and missed positioning opportunities for businesses in the circular economy. While Australia’s Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling recommended legislating a full circular economy framework — including for imported and local product design, financial incentives and regulatory enforcement, New Zealand remains the only OECD country without a national scheme to manage e-waste.

3. Extending product lifecycles

Along with data security and digital tools, reuse was a key theme in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track of the conference. The sustainable tech company that I lead, Greenbox, recognises that reuse is the simplest circular strategy. Devices that are still functional undergo refurbishment and are reintroduced into the market, reducing new production need and conserving valuable resources.

Conference presenters highlighted how repair over replacement is being legislated as a right in jurisdictions around the world. Resources are saved, costs are lowered, product life is extended, and people and organisations are empowered to support a greener future. It was pointed out that just 43% of countries have recycling policies, 17% of global waste is formally recycled, and less than 1% of global e-waste is formally repaired and reused.

Right to repair is a rising wave in the circular economy, and legislation is one way that civil society is pushing back on programmed obsolescence. Its global momentum continues at different speeds for different product categories — from the recent EU mandates to multiple US state bills (and some laws) through to repair and reuse steps in India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Commission has done a scoping study to identify product groups under the Ecodesign framework that would be most relevant for implementing an EU-wide product reparability scoring system.

Attending this event with the entire electronic waste recycling supply chain — from peers and partners to suppliers and customers — underscored the importance of sharing best practices to address the environmental challenges that increased hardware proliferation and complex related issues are having on the world.

Ross Thompson is Group CEO of sustainability, data management and technology asset lifecycle management market leader Greenbox. With facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Greenbox Group provides customers all over the world a carbon-neutral supply chain for IT equipment to reduce their carbon footprint by actively managing their environmental, social and governance obligations.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mustafa Ovec

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