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.

Climate change driven by industrial society is having an increasing impact on the UK’s weather, the Met Office says.

Its annual UK report confirms that 2019 was the 12th warmest year in a series from 1884.

Although it does not make the top 10, the report says 2019 was remarkable for high temperature records in the UK.

There was also a severe swing in weather from the soaking winter to the sunny spring.

The temperature extremes were:

• A new UK maximum record (38.7° C) on 25 July, in Cambridge
• A new winter maximum record (21.2° C) on 26 February, in Kew Gardens, London – the first time 20C has been reached in the UK in winter
• A new December maximum record (18.7° C) on 28 December, in Achfary, Sutherland
• A new February minimum record (13.9° C) on 23 February, in Achnagart, Highland

No national low temperature records were set in the State of the UK Climate report, published by the Royal Meteorological Society.

The French schooner De Gallant docked in Falmouth harbour at the end of May, three months after leaving the port of Santa Marta in Colombia laden with tonnes of sustainably sourced coffee beans.

This wind-powered sail cargo of carbon-neutral coffee was worth the wait, according to Yallah Coffee, a single-origin coffee roastery only a few miles away in the Cornish port town.

Yallah’s special Colombian coffee grounds and beans are finding their way into coffee shops and restaurants across the country. Using a sailboat to import the beans into the UK made the first leg of their voyage almost entirely carbon neutral.

For Richard Blake, the owner of Yallah Coffee, the delivery was the culmination of almost five years developing the idea for a sustainably sourced coffee without the huge carbon footprint of most imported beans.