20th June 2012 London, UK
Last week the UK secured agreement from EU Fisheries Ministers on much needed reforms to the broken Common Fisheries Policy. Following 24 hours of tense negotiations at the EU Fisheries Council held in Luxemburg, Ministers agreed to end ineffective micro-management by Brussels and to a ban on the discarding of dead fish – an issue […]
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25th April 2012 Ottawa, Canada
A guest blog posting in honour of Earth Day (April 22nd), from our British High Commission Ottawa, Climate and Prosperity Advisor, Adrienne Yuen: “There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” – Herbert “Marshall” McLuhan This past Sunday marked the world’s 42nd Earth Day. It’s a great way to refocus our attention […]
16th April 2012 Montréal, Canada
The British High Commission (in Canada)`s Science and Innovation Network, together with the Canadian Institute of Health Research for Human Development, Child and Health (CIHR-IHDCYH) under the aegis of the scientific director Michael Kramer, hosted a workshop on Measuring Environmental Exposure. Our goal was to better understand the research gaps that still need to be addressed in order […]
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30th March 2012 USA
The following is a guest post by Sangeeta Ahuja, First Secretary Energy, Environment & Resource Security at the British Embassy in Washington. Earth Hour starts at 8:30 in the evening on Saturday 31 March. In a co-ordinated gesture last year to promote environmental protection, the lights were turned off in 5,200 cities in 135 countries […]
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19th January 2012 Athens, Greece
When I tell those who might be interested in asking what I do for a living that I am the British Embassy’s Political Officer most people ask “so, do you think that we shall have an early election?” or “what do the British think of the latest polls?” So, they are surprised if they get […]
5th January 2012 Washington DC, USA
When I was offered the dream job of Counsellor for Global Issues at the British Embassy in Washington DC, clearly I couldn’t refuse. It’s a dream job because of the range of issues my portfolio covers—diplomacy on trade, energy, the environment, transport, science and innovation—and because of the country and context, since the US is […]
23rd December 2011 Athens, Greece
The first time I watched this film was during a screening organized internally for Embassy staff back in January 2011. “Going for Green – Britain’s 2012 Dream” was commissioned by the FCO, and tells the story of how the Olympic Park is being built in an environmentally sustainable way, as set out in the legacy […]
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15th December 2011 USA
For those of us actively working toward successful international negotiations on climate change, the most recent meeting in Durban, South Africa seems like cause for optimism this holiday season. The UN climate talks wrapped up last weekend with over 120 countries (including major economies such as the United States) forming a coalition behind the EU’s […]
1st December 2011
At the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Sunday 27 November, Pope Benedict XVI made a special appeal in support of an agreement at the Durban Conference on Climate Change. The Pope said: “Tomorrow in Durban, South Africa, work begins at the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. I hope that all […]
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18th November 2011 Toronto, Canada
The recent Arthur J. Carty lecture at the University of Waterloo featured Prof. Sir David King (Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government from 2000 to 2008 and current Director of the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment; pictured left). Prof. King gave an unchallengeable talk on the importance of good science advice in government, […]