Month: December 2024

New Global Alliance launched to consign statelessness to history

Stuart Mitchell

More than 100 States, civil society organizations, stateless-led entities, academics and others have united to form a new Global Alliance to End Statelessness, committing to address the grave inequity faced by millions of people around the world denied a nationality. The Global Alliance, which builds on the decade-long #IBelong campaign, was officially launched by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, during the annual Executive Committee meeting of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Geneva, which started Monday and continues this week. “Over the last decade, we have made real…

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Renewal of co-regulatory arrangement for broadcast, on demand and video-sharing platform advertising

Stuart Mitchell

Ofcom has announced the renewal of the co-regulatory arrangement that designates responsibility to the ASA system for the day-to-day regulation of broadcast, on demand programme service (ODPS), and video-sharing platform (VSP) advertising for a further period of ten years, until 31 October 2034. The ASA has day-to-day responsibility for regulating advertising on these services, with Ofcom providing a statutory backstop. The existing co-regulatory arrangements are due to expire at the end of October 2024 (ODPS and VSP) and the beginning of November 2024 (broadcast). This announcement follows Ofcom’s public consultation…

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UK’s biggest electricity distributor’s Net Zero ambitions validated

Stuart Mitchell

UK Power Networks which operates across London, the East and South East, is the first UK electricity network operator to be validated to the SBTi’s Net Zero Standard. To limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C the SBTi stresses that global emissions have to be halved by 2030 and the world has to achieve net-zero before 2050. Mark Adolphus, director of Health, Safety, Sustainability and Connections at UK Power Networks said: “We realise the urgency of taking action. The latest climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change –…

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National Wealth Fund, Barclays UK Corporate Bank and Lloyds Banking Group join forces to unleash £1 billion to retrofit social housing

Stuart Mitchell

The NWF has announced financial guarantees that will see Barclays UK Corporate Bank and Lloyds Banking Group deliver £1 billion of funding to accelerate the retrofit of social housing in the UK. Barclays UK Corporate Bank and Lloyds Banking Group will each deliver £500 million of lending to the market that has been enabled by financial guarantees of up to £750m provided by the NWF. The guarantees will support both shorter duration loans to be provided by Lloyds Banking Group and mid-to-long duration loans to be provided by Barclays UK…

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UK banks poured over £1 billion into ‘forest-risk’ companies since 2022 – defying country’s landmark anti-deforestation pledge

Stuart Mitchell

The UK banking sector has poured over £1 billion ($1.4bn) into “forest-risk” companies globally since COP26, undermining the country’s commitments made at the 2021 Glasgow climate conference – according to new analysis by Global Witness in collaboration with the Forests & Finance coalition. This Global Witness analysis, published recently, is based on new Forest & Finance coalition data prepared by independent research organisation Profundo. The study found that in 2024, UK financiers ranked as the third-largest investors in shares and bonds issued by “forest-risk” companies, behind only the US and…

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