Emma Howard
banner
emmahoward.bsky.social
Emma Howard
@emmahoward.bsky.social
Reporter at Unearthed, the investigative journalism outfit backed by Greenpeace. Mostly plastics, water, biodiversity

Find us @unearthednews.bsky.social
Previously at the Guardian.
Reposted by Emma Howard
A quarter of Britain’s native plants are now at risk of extinction

The first update in two decades to a “red list” of plants found a substantial increase in the number of threatened species
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
November 5, 2025 at 9:38 AM
“We need to be honest with ourselves that travel is not sustainable in its current format and anything suggesting otherwise is greenwashing.”

Refreshing honesty from a global travel company

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Tour operator Intrepid drops carbon offsets and emissions targets
Firm will instead invest A$2m a year in ‘climate impact fund’ supporting renewables and switching to EVs
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:54 AM
This is a rare and amazing environmental success story & we really should be shouting more about it.

In 2019, KCL estimated that without action, it would take 193 years for London to meet the legal limit.

Birmingham, Manchester & Liverpool all recorded worse results.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
London Ulez reduced nitrogen dioxide to legal limit, mayor says
The mayor of London says the fall in airborne toxins is due to the Ultra low emission zone expansion.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 7, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Great (read scary) investigation into the Tony Blair Institute, its relationship with a US tech billionaire & efforts to get NHS health data opened up for AI

I also had no idea TBI was so big: 900 staff!

HT @petergeoghegan.bsky.social @maybulman.bsky.social

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Inside the Tony Blair Institute
Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?
www.newstatesman.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
As Trump visits the king & protestors march through London, we obtained data showing that the president's Scottish golf course repeatedly breached sewage contamination limits

My latest for @unearthednews.bsky.social

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/09/17/t...
Trump golf course in Scotland repeatedly broke sewage contamination limits
Sewage discharge testing found ‘non-compliant’ samples 14 times since 2019
unearthed.greenpeace.org
September 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Emma Howard
Environment minister Mary Creagh has announced the government will make it harder for farmers to apply for emergency authorisations of a group of bee-killing pesticides known as neonics

Says guidance today will require applications to take full account of the risks pesticides pose to pollinators
September 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Lush setting for a conference I must say - by the capital's only chalk stream, the River Wandle

At UK River Summit - lots of talk about the government's review of the water sector, in coming weeks and about the unfolding drought.

Hmu if you're hear & want to chat!

#UKRiverSummit
July 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
@mcivillini.bsky.social Hi Matteo, I don't think we've connected before but I work for Unearthed. Got a quick q for you about one of your stories - would you mind following so I can DM you? Thank you
July 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Britain's datacentres are already consuming close to 10 billion litres of water per year - and that's before any AI boom

by @adamvaughan.bsky.social
@foxglovelegal.bsky.social

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
Thirsty data centres are sucking up Britain’s scarce water supplies
The tech industry faces scrutiny as secrecy clouds the true cost of cooling servers and the country braces for shortages and hosepipe bans
www.thetimes.com
June 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The gap between how much water England has and how much it will need in future just got bigger again

By @shoshaadie.bsky.social

www.endsreport.com/article/1922...
England water demand-supply gap widens to five billion litres by 2055
The gap between public water supply and demand is expected to reach five billion litres by 2055 if urgent action isn’t taken, according to the Environment Agency (EA).
www.endsreport.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Emma Howard
NEW: Fashion waste is overwhelming Ghana — and now it’s spilling into Accra’s protected wetlands.
With @greenpeaceafrica.org, we found UK brands and huge new dump sites in a conservation area home to endangered turtles.
👉 unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/06/18/u...
UK brands found in ‘fast fashion graveyard’ in African conservation area
Clothes discarded by UK consumers and shipped to Ghana have been found in a huge textile dumpsite in a protected African conservation area.
unearthed.greenpeace.org
June 18, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Reposted by Emma Howard
📢Good news: The 200-year-old Vagrancy Act is finally to be repealed, meaning rough sleeping will no longer be treated as a crime in England & Wales.
CIH have long called for an approach that tackles the root causes of homelessness—not punishes people for it. This is a welcome & long overdue change🧵⬇️
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years
The Government has confirmed it will repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824 by Spring next year, to ensure rough sleeping is no longer a criminal offence.
www.gov.uk
June 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
That's "3.4 million wet tonnes" of literally toxic sh*t with "nowhere to go" to be exact.

Folks at home in the Shire will also be interested to know that the Midlands is where the landfill space is, so if there's a sudden shortfall of land, it's likely coming your way....
June 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Really enjoying nature getting one over on Big Tech here...

One source familiar with the construction told the Guardian "it had been a rolling three-year saga & said some foxes had begun to dig burrows in the perfectly manicured grounds."

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Google battling ‘fox infestation’ on roof of £1bn London office
Foxes have ‘begun to dig burrows’ in soil of rooftop garden at the as yet unopened King’s Cross headquarters
www.theguardian.com
June 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Emma Howard
This happened for decades with asbestos: industry lobbied to deem certain types safer than others, delaying a ban that would have saved countless lives
The chemical industry is deploying every weapon in its arsenal to fight efforts to regulate harmful forever chemicals, including calling into question the very definition of what PFAS are, writes Watershed's @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Scientists warn against attempts to change definition of ‘forever chemicals’
Move to narrow classification of Pfas and weaken regulation is ‘politically and/or economically motivated’
www.theguardian.com
June 10, 2025 at 7:43 AM
This is a really important & quite shocking, investigation.

The water industry is worried that in just 3 years time it may have nowhere to send millions of tonnes of sludge.

Sludge is spread on farms but there are now concerning levels of PFAS in it.

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/06/09/s...
‘No Plan B’: Water companies fear pollution crackdown will stop them spreading sewage sludge on farmland
unearthed.greenpeace.org
June 10, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Three years after our investigation into Total's huge carbon offsetting project in the Congo, the oil giant is abandoning it - @reporterre.net reports.

It's reportedly stopped funding the project & pulled staff out the country. It planted 12.5% of the intended trees.

reporterre.net/TotalEnergie...
TotalEnergies abandonne en catimini un projet de compensation carbone au Congo
Après l'avoir lancé en grande pompe, TotalEnergies abandonne en silence un projet de plantation de forêt pour compenser ses émissions en République du Congo. 12 % des arbres promis y ont été plantés, ...
reporterre.net
May 29, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Emma Howard
NEW from me: China's CO2 emissions fell ~1.6% in the first quarter and have now been flat or down for more than a year. This is the first time on record that emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand.
NEW – Analysis: Clean energy just put China’s CO2 emissions into reverse for first time | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social

Read here: buff.ly/6eAcjRU
May 15, 2025 at 5:45 AM
"[It's] largely underground, changes in volume depending on whether it’s rained recently & tries to swallow you up every time you set foot in it"

The government wants you to know that mapping the biggest carbon store on UK land was not easy - & it's not healthy.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Eighty percent of England’s peatlands are dry and degraded, mapping shows
Healthy peatlands can help tackle the climate crisis but degraded peat emits carbon and contributes to global heating
www.theguardian.com
May 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Emma Howard
The same Tony Blair has been paid to advise oil rich autocratic states including Azerbaijan, UAE and Kazakhstan

This should be included in *every* story about his net zero comments

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Tony Blair calls for radical reset of climate change policies in major intervention
Former PM warns climate policy has become disconnected from ‘political, public, and economic reality’ and claims COP is struggling to ‘deliver change at the speed required’
www.independent.co.uk
April 30, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Emma Howard
BREAKING: Brazil meat giant JBS has received approval from the SEC for its plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The new comes days after we revealed its pledge to rid its vast Amazon beef supply chain of deforestation by January is likely to be broken

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Brazilian Meat Giant JBS Gets SEC Approval for New York Listing
Brazil’s JBS SA has received approval from the US Securities Exchange Commission for its proposed share listing in New York, clearing another hurdle in the meatpacker’s pursuit to boost its market val...
www.bloomberg.com
April 23, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Emma Howard
Reposted by Emma Howard
This is a nuclear-powered icebreaker, operated by a state-owned Russian company called Atomflot.

Atomflot has been sanctioned by the EU, UK and US since 2023.

🧵
February 10, 2025 at 9:28 AM