UK business news in short

Energy company BP has announced that it has carried out its first trades in the UK’s newly introduced emissions trading scheme, which include the sale of 1,000 carbon credits to IMERYS, the international minerals processing group previously known as English China Clay. IMERYS has worked closely with BP over the last 12 years in order to achieve significant improvements in their energy and environmental performance.

The CIRIA, the UK-based research association that focuses on improving the environmental performance of the construction industry, has been awarded £1,098,000 by the Government for 14 projects. This is the largest award to a single organisation under the Department of Trade and Industry’s annual Partners in Innovation competition. The projects range from guidance on site health to risk assessment in climate change and from ways of using agricultural crops in construction to extending guidance on flood risk.

Finally, the National Society for Clean Air’s Pollution Handbook 2002 is now available, at a cost of £39. The book provides an overview of all pollution control legislation in force, or pending, covering industrial pollution control, air pollution, waste management, noise and water pollution.