UK tree‑planting rates are falling far short of the UK’s statutory 2050 net‑zero pathway, with the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit warning that missed planting during this Parliament could create a long‑term “carbon removal gap” and weaker natural flood defences. The analysis points to delayed woodland creation in upland catchments and along floodplains, where riparian planting and shelterbelts could slow overland flow, stabilise soils and reduce peak river levels. For infrastructure planners, this signals greater reliance on hard‑engineered flood schemes and more expensive carbon removal options later in the century.

UK progress on legally binding environmental targets is “largely off track”, with the Office for Environmental Protection warning that current policies will not deliver the Environment Act 2021 goals on air, water and biodiversity. The watchdog cites slow delivery of river basin management plans, weak nutrient pollution controls and delays to local nature recovery strategies as key gaps. For infrastructure schemes, this signals tighter scrutiny of water quality impacts, biodiversity net gain delivery and construction emissions as regulators push departments and agencies to close compliance gaps.

Deep-sea mining tests in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone at 4,280 metres depth, commissioned by Nauru Ocean Resources (a The Metals Company subsidiary), cut macrofaunal density by 37% and species richness by 32% along machine tracks over two years, based on disturbance of 3,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules. European researchers from the Natural History Museum, University of Gothenburg and the National Oceanography Centre collected 4,350 sediment macrofaunal animals and identified 788 species, mainly polychaete worms, crustaceans and molluscs. The trial used machines only about half the size of planned commercial systems, raising concern that full-scale operations could cause larger, possibly irreversible, benthic impacts.