The Campaign to Protect Rural England has called for a radical rethink in the role of the countryside in tackling the climate emergency, in a report called ‘Greener, better, faster’.

As the government chooses how best to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, CPRE National and its Gloucestershire office is calling for the countryside to be at the forefront of climate action, so that rural communities do not bear the brunt of the climate emergency.

Climate change puts the farming industry at risk, with changing rainfall patterns and drier soil conditions threatening crop production.

The farming industry is not the only element of rural areas that is at risk, with biodiversity being hugely at risk due to altered temperature and rainfall patterns.

‘Greener, better, faster: countryside solutions to the climate emergency and for a green recovery’, a report by the CPRE, sets out how the countryside can be at the centre of the transformation for a net-zero carbon society, to ensure the climate emergency is tackled in a way that benefits those living and working in rural communities.

Proposals to power High Speed 2 using wind farms would breach official procurement rules, a Tory peer has warned ministers.

Viscount Ridley, the science writer and former businessman, claimed that a plan drawn up on behalf of the government owned-body building the railway involved a “hidden subsidy” that would ultimately be passed onto taxpayers or added to the cost of tickets.

The peer’s intervention came after The Sunday Telegraph revealed how a strategy document commissioned by the Government proposed powering the controversial rail line using onshore wind farms spanning the equivalent of 19,000 football fields.

The strategy set out prices that would be pre-agreed with energy firms, at rates…

A no-deal Brexit could cost the UK £2.2bn every year as the network connecting the nation’s electricity supply with its European neighbours would no longer function effectively.

Environmental think tank Green Alliance issued the warning as Britain’s future clean power supply looked uncertain following a string of failed nuclear power projects.

With Japanese firm Hitachi pulling out of the planned Wylfa plant in Wales, the UK now faces a “nuclear gap” of about 15 per cent in its future electricity supply.

Environmental groups say the gap can be plugged with renewable energy, and business secretary Greg Clark acknowledged the tumbling price of wind power was making it a more desirable option than nuclear.

However, concerns still remain around how variable power supplies, such as wind and solar, can provide the grid with reliable power.

The government introduced the generous incentives in 2010. The FITs, funded by a levy on all energy bills, have encouraged 800,000 households to go solar, but they have also spawned a multitude of startups that have exploited homeowners.

Homeowners who wanted to do their bit for the environment but could not afford the outlay were promised up to 50% off their bills if they signed over the airspace above their roof for 25 years. For the startups it was a bonanza.

Payouts would earn them an average of £23,000, more than triple their investment. But unscrupulous contracts obliged owners to seek permission if they wanted to extend or sell their home, or compensate them if the panels were temporarily removed for roof repairs.

Since 2012, as installation costs have plummeted, the feed-in rates have been slashed for new installations by 90%, and they will be abolished for those who install solar panels after 31 March next year. The profiteering startups have all but disappeared, but their legacy will blight the lives of homeowners and unwitting buyers for two more decades.

Many are discovering the high price of their “free” deal as they try to sell. The 25-year leases apply to the property regardless of who owns it, and they have to find a buyer willing to take on the remaining years. And even if a buyer is happy, mortgage lenders may not be. The deal is treated as a leasehold, and contracts skewed in favour of the company are deemed risky by banks and building societies.

Millions of homes across the UK could be heated using a carbon-free technology that draws energy from rivers and lakes in a revolutionary system that could reduce household bills by 20 per cent.

The Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, has described the development as “game changing” in relation to Britain’s need for renewable energy against the backdrop of insecurity in Russia, which supplies much of Europe’s gas, and the political row at home over soaring fuel bills.

In the first system of its kind in the UK, a heat pump in the Thames will provide hot water for radiators, showers and taps in nearly 150 homes and a 140-room hotel and conference centre in south London, saving 500 tons of carbon emissions from being released every year into the atmosphere.

Mr Davey has asked officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) to draw up a nationwide map showing where renewable heat can be drawn from water to explore the potential of heat pumps. In theory, any body of water, including tidal rivers as well as standing water such as reservoirs and lakes, can be used as long as they are in the open and heated by the Sun. The Government has a target of 4.5 million heat pumps across Britain, although some will be using heat from air as well as water. David MacKay, the chief scientific adviser to Decc and professor of engineering at Cambridge University, has described a combination of heat pumps and low carbon electricity as the future of building heating.