24 January

Today the cross-party climate and nature bill will be up for debate in parliament. If passed, this bill would legalise the UK’s stated international emissions targets, account for overseas emissions and ecological damage driven by our imports and formalise a climate and nature citizens’ assembly.

The chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) select committee, Alistair Carmichael MP, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting an urgent meeting to review the proposed changes to inheritance tax outlined in the Autumn Budget, stating that more farms will be affected by the suggested threshold than initially thought.

Scientists at the agricultural consultancy ADAS have found a species of Italian ryegrass in Kent which is resistant to glyphosate, the world’s most intensively used herbicide which was declared a carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. ADAS have described the possibility of wider glyphosate resistance in UK crops as a “high-risk scenario”.

The Co-op has announced an investment package worth £820,000 which it will use to incentivise British farmers to reduce carbon emissions. The retailer has launched its sustainability fund for farmers in the meat and dairy industry in a bid to promote low-carbon farming and nature restoration on farmland.

New research has shown that a third of the Arctic’s tundra, forests and wetlands have become a source of carbon emissions. Arctic soil ecosystems which acted as a source of carbon storage for millennia are now being released by global heating, in turn contributing to climate change in a positive feedback loop.

The world’s longest-running ecological study conducted by the University of Sussex and Rothamsted Research has indicated a direct causal relationship between high fertiliser use in soils and a reduction in pollinators. Excessive fertiliser use has more than halved pollinator populations in many of the plots of land included in the study.

The new groundbreaking exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet launched at Somerset House in London yesterday, with the SSA invited to and in attendance at the exhibition’s wonderful private launch. Keep an eye out on our Bluesky profile for some of our photos of the launch event.