More than two-thirds of Defra staff moved to Brexit-related roles

. Staff redeployed as ex-government adviser says Brexit is bad for environment . More than two-thirds of all staff employed directly by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are working on delivering Brexit, according to official figures released by the government. The response to a freedom of […]

Speaking at the UN Economic Commission for Europe meeting on Sustainable Development Goals

. On 22 March, I spoke at the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Europe’s meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals in Geneva, Switzerland. ‘ Thank you for the invitation to share our experience on financing disaster risk reduction in relation to climate change. E3G is a European climate change think […]

HOW TO DEAL WITH A CLIMATE EMERGENCY – IN ADMIRATION OF THE CLIMATE STRIKERS.

Revoke Brexit – that is the single most important thing that a British Government could do to tackle climate change as Brexit is both undermining our ability to make our own low carbon transition but also removes one of the strongest and most influential voices within the EU for higher […]

A CLIMATE OF TRUST

The core argument of this lecture is that failure of climate change policy represents an existential threat to civilisation that will destroy the foundations of trust on which democracy depends. Climate change is a unique problem in human history. Climate policy success demands the local, national and geo-political cooperation that […]

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, please don’t let me be misunderstood

REMARKS BY MR TOM BURKE CBE AT THE CASTLE DEBATE ON THE CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY, DLA PIPER, 3 NOBLE STREET, LONDON, JULY 3RD 2018. ‘I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, please don’t let me be misunderstood’ The Animals This is the song that came to my mind immediately […]

SMALL BITES NO.2

  Matt Ridley is almost always wrong about the environment. His regular column in the Times is a mishmash of misinformation and malice. He dislikes environmentalists and hates their influence on public policy. His criticism, in yesterday’s column, of Michael Gove’s proposed new ‘independent’ body to ensure a post-Brexit Government […]

There is a catastrophic gap between promises to cut carbon emissions and the action need to deliver those cuts – BBC World Service

    There is a catastrophic gap between promises to cut carbon emissions and the actions need to deliver those cuts. That is the verdict today from the United Nations, a new UN Report says amounts pledged in the Paris Agreement amount to just a third of what is needed […]

ON THE BREAKING OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROMISES

  There are a great many champions of the environment in Britain. Between them, our environmental bodies have several times the membership of all the political parties in Britain combined. They probably know rather more about the will of the people than the political leaders who somehow managed not to […]

The Environmental politics of Brexit – Speech at UK Environmental Law Association Conference

              The Environmental politics of Brexit – Speech by Tom Burke UK Environmental Law Association Conference October 13th, 2017 39 Essex Chambers, London Let me begin by thanking you for inviting me to speak today. This conference connects two issues that, more than most, […]

What does Brexit mean for Environmental Legislation in the UK – Guardian Podcast

    One of the things that you get out of our membership of the EU is an enormous amount of regulatory stability. It takes a very long time to create environmental legislation, but then it is very difficult for governments, in a whimsical way, to change it. Now from […]