As legally-binding nature targets loom in the years ahead, some campaigners say the government is at risk of being the first to ‘break nature law’. And that’s because according to the OEP this week, the chance to make a change on these targets before 2030 has ‘largely passed’.

On this week’s ECO Chamber, host James Agyepong-Parsons and ENDS Report senior reporter Shosha Adie speak with the OEP’s chief scientist, Professor Robbie McDonald, about the government’s poor progress on nature restoration targets, and what it would take to turn the tide.

Are ministers at risk of breaking the law?

The ECO Chamber is brought to you by journalists at ENDS Report.

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The global market in artificial intelligence is projected to hit $4.8 trillion by 2033, according to the UN’s latest analysis, and it seems all that anyone can talk about. But with its drain on water resources, and high energy demands, the technology could pose serious environmental risks.

As AI’s deployment in the environmental space gathers pace, how are the UK’s green professionals squaring this circle? On this week’s ECO Chamber, host James Agyepong-Parsons speaks with ENDS Report editor Jamie Carpenter about how the sector is changing, and what’s at stake.

The ECO Chamber is brought to you by journalists at ENDS Report.

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The government has announced that the flagship nature policy, biodiversity net gain, is set to see substantial revisions in 2026 with development sites up to 0.2 hectares in size to be exempt from the requirement.

Labour has also revised England’s national planning policy blueprint – the National Planning Policy Framework.

On this week’s ECO Chamber, host James Agyepong-Parsons speaks with lawyer Alexa Culver from RSK Wilding to unpick these updates, and hears why she says Labour’s net gain changes are a ‘wound’ to nature markets ‘but not a fatal one’.

For this year’s final episode, ENDS Report deputy editor Tess Colley also looks back at the biggest UK environmental moments in Labour’s second year of government.

PLUS: South East Water blames its own water sources following a two-week window where customers had to boil their water, the House of Lords has slammed the government’s response to its waste crime inquiry, and PFAS monitoring methods underestimate the true scale of forever chemical pollution, a cross-party group of MPs have been told.

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