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Emma Howard

@emmahoward.bsky.social
1.7K followers 918 following 52 posts

Environmental & investigative journalist. Now living the freelance life. Previously ​at Unearthed (Greenpeace's investigative journalism outlet). And the Guardian.

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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Lol what is this article
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Heya, you're welcome - great to see!
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
They wanted to create the "world's first carbon-negative data centre". What could possibly have gone wrong? Great story by @bertiehb.bsky.social @landclimate.bsky.social landclimate.org/drax-aigz/
landclimate.org
UK government rejects bid for biomass-powered AI growth zone - Land and Climate Review
Plans involving Drax Group, local authorities and a university in North Yorkshire are no longer progressing, Land and Climate Review can reveal.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
A wake up call
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
More news like this please www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Wanted: children to rear harvest mice at home for wild release in Devon
Teenagers Eva Wishart and Emily Smith launch project to breed and release 250 of the tiny animals by September
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Revealed: Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires I discovered via an FOI request that DEFRA’s commitment in the National Adaptation Programme to run a “wildfire risk programme” since 2023 “was not brought into effect”. #ClimateCrisis www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
Revealed: Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires
FOI request shows wildfire risk scheme scrapped, as data highlights many fire services lack proper protective gear
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
After a poultry plant shut down in July's heatwave, the UK's meat industry trade body called for processing sites to have "continuous access to water, irrespective of wider pressures on local supplies". When those sites use more water than Brighton, that matters. www.grilled.media/data-meat-in...
grilled.media
Data: Meat plants use more water than the population of Brighton
As meat processors demand priority access to water during drought, exclusive data reveals the industry's water use
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Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
UK Government climate change advisers say expanding Heathrow airport is incompatible with climate targets To make it so, the aviation industry should pay for carbon removals & sustainable aviation fuel Trouble is neither of those meaningfully exist www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Airlines should pay for CO2 removal if Heathrow expands, say climate advisers
Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What the climate crisis really means today - the kind of climate adaptation reporting we need
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Alex Hern @hern.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
continually maddening that people blame "the water companies" for hosepipe bans when "the water companies" have been begging to build new reservoirs but a few retired QCs in Oxfordshire have used the entire weight of the british planning system to prevent it www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Thames Water redraws mega-reservoir plan amid local opposition
A new public consultation has opened on the 150bn-litre above-ground White Horse project in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Nobody wants a chicken poo crisis
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Thanks Guy!
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
NEW from me - my first story in my new freelance life www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
One in 12 golf clubs in England broke water extraction rules in past five years
More than 140 clubs breached licences, with a third caught taking water illegally, analysis shows – but no fines issued
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Brilliant new investigation by @verbatim-media.bsky.social, the new outfit of my former colleague @lawrencecarter.bsky.social. Worth watching the full film www.verbatiminvestigations.com
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Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
UK prime minister Andy Burnham has confirmed he will attend #COP31, the climate conference in Nov. Interesting he chose to announce it early, to avoid any "will-he-won't-he" stories as has happened with previous PMs. Also deliberate bit of climate leadership as he could've just sent Miliband.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm not surprised by this. Reminds me of the emails I found two years ago in which the Environment Agency said the company showed “a lack of understanding of their own supply system”. 🔥 unearthed.greenpeace.org/2024/01/15/s...
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Zach Boren @zdboren.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
as britain endures its worst harvest on record, it's worth knowing: 85% of UK farmland is used to feed livestock. and half of our wheat harvest doesn't feed people, it feeds animals
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Revealed: just 20 out of of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation, as UK burns in fifth heatwave of this summer - FOI request by me @andyburnham.bsky.social needs to level with the country about the climate crisis & set out radical plan to tackle it 🧵 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation amid drought and wildfires
Exclusive: England ‘desperately unprepared’ for effects of crisis including water shortages and heatwaves
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
@rachelshabi.bsky.social Hi Rachel- Emma here from (no longer) Unearthed. I wanted to drop you a line about coaching but I seem to have lost your email address and struggling with the form on your site. What's the best way to get in touch? Thanks!
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
If you're an environmental journalist in the UK or Europe, the biggest gathering of ocean scientists in the world is happening in Glasgow next week, and you should consider coming to cover some of the most important findings about our life support system. #OSM26
agu.org
Press | Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026
Welcome to the OSM26 Newsroom and Press Center. Here you will find information that will help you cover the meeting and register.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
No hint of irony here - funny to see the water industry using this kind of rhetoric towards other companies. "The problem with PFAS will only get worse until chemical companies are forced to stop their manufacture and sale and clean up the mess they've already created" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'Forever chemical' testing to be ramped up amid growing concerns.
Increasing testing for PFAS is part of the UK's first ever national plan for tackling the substances.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Water companies are issuing increasing amounts in 'green' bonds - over £10bn since 2017. We found cases where funds have refinanced completed projects & others where the money was used for activities that companies are obliged by law to deliver My latest: unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/11/30/w...
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Water companies have borrowed over £10bn in 'green' bonds - and keep borrowing more. We analysed Bloomberg data & found that the industry issued a third of the UK corporate green bonds so far this year. And still the sewage crisis goes on. unearthed.greenpeace.org/2025/11/30/w...
unearthed.greenpeace.org
Water companies have borrowed over £10bn in ‘green’ bonds
The water industry issued a third of UK corporate bonds this year, according to a new Unearthed analysis - but the sewage crisis continues
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Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
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...
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
“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...
theguardian.com
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
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
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...
bbc.co.uk
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.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Oh thanks, il enjoy this! If you haven't heard Peter G's latest album double album i/o, it's wonderful
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
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...
newstatesman.com
Inside the Tony Blair Institute
Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
My latest story was also published in the Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Trump golf course in Scotland accused of breaching sewage limits
Exclusive: Firm that runs Aberdeenshire resort says it is ‘categorically wrong’ to suggest it has caused environmental damage
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
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...
unearthed.greenpeace.org
Trump golf course in Scotland repeatedly broke sewage contamination limits
Sewage discharge testing found ‘non-compliant’ samples 14 times since 2019
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Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
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
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
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
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
@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
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
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...
thetimes.com
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
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
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...
endsreport.com
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).
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Unearthed @unearthednews.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
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...
unearthed.greenpeace.org
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.
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Chartered Institute of Housing @cihhousing.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
📢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🧵⬇️
gov.uk
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.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
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....
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
And this "artist’s impression of how Google’s new London headquarters could look if it was overrun with foxes" by @londoncentric.media who first reported the news www.londoncentric.media/p/why-lime-b...
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
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...
theguardian.com
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
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Charlotte Helen Bailey @charlottehelen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
This happened for decades with asbestos: industry lobbied to deem certain types safer than others, delaying a ban that would have saved countless lives
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
By our very own @ellieodonnell.bsky.social @zdboren.bsky.social And covered by the BBC this morning www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Warning over 'dirty secret' of toxic chemicals on farmers fields
Campaigners say that farmers' fields are being contaminated by chemicals and microplastics in sewage sludge.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
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...
unearthed.greenpeace.org
‘No Plan B’: Water companies fear pollution crackdown will stop them spreading sewage sludge on farmland
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Back in 2022, working with @source-material.org we exposed how families were dispossessed of their land to make way for the scheme. unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/12/12/t...
unearthed.greenpeace.org
'How are we going to live?' Families dispossessed of their land to make way for Total’s Congo offsetting project
Local farmers say they cannot afford to send children to school after the oil giant’s offsetting plantation barred them from their fields
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
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...
reporterre.net
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, ...
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Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
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.
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Emma Howard @emmahoward.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
"[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/...
theguardian.com
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
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
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...
independent.co.uk
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’
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Lucy Jordan @lucyjordan.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
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...
bloomberg.com
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...
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