Authorities in the United Kingdom are taking action against 14 companies that are suspected of sourcing illegal timber from Cameroon. Cameroon’s forests are one of the most biodiverse in the Congo Basin, but they are being decimated at a rapid pace due to illegal logging. Pursuant to the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR), British authorities have started the first steps in targeting 14 companies that are suspected of sourcing the illegal timber, sending 6 letters of remedial action, 7 letters of warning, and 1 letter of advice.

On November 18, 2015, the United Kingdom announced that it intends to close all coal-fired power plants by 2025 that are not able to capture and store their carbon emissions. The country plans to begin restricting usage of coal-fired power plants in 2023. Coal-fired power plants that are able to implement carbon capture and storage before 2025 would not be required to shut down. This announcement makes the United Kingdom the first major economy to name a date for shutting down coal plants.

The European Union approved a plan to give sub-standard homes a green makeover, but only after a large downgrade of the initial plan. The Energiesprong project planned to give 10-day green makeovers for more than 100,000 public housing units by installing wraparound insulating facades, solar panels, and Ikea kitchens. But the EU approved only 10% of the scope of the original project. The new plan will provide 5,000 remodels in the United Kingdom and 5,000 in France. Energiesprong is now asking the United Kingdom government to help with financing the project.

Monday October 5, 2015, marked the start of a mandated, five-pence (US $0.08) charge for plastic bags in England. Customers are required to pay for plastic bags for groceries, clothing, and other types of retail. The fee is intended to reduce waste and pollution. The government estimates that, prior to this charge, approximately 7.6 billion plastic bags are handed out over the course of a year—nearly 140 bags per person. There are exemptions to the fee, however. Stores with fewer than 250 full-time employees are not required to enforce the charge.

The Scottish government announced that it plans to ban the commercial growing of genetically modified crops. Richard Lochhead, environment secretary of Scotland, stated that the potential risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the environment and wildlife outweighed the technological benefits. A government spokesperson stated that the ban would not apply to laboratory research on GMOs. The European Union passed an amendment this year that allows member states and devolved administrations to restrict or ban GMOs within their territory.

Draft regulations released by the United Kingdom's Department of Energy and Climate Change surprised observers by allowing hydraulic fracturing activities in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and under protected groundwater sources. The regulations, presented to Parliament on July 16, contradict statements made in January, when Energy Secretary Amber Rudd told legislators that a fracking ban in SSSIs and national parks had been agreed to. The draft regulations would also allow fracking companies to operate adjacent to national parks and drill horizontally under them.

British Chancellor George Osborne announced that the government would terminate tax exemptions under the Climate Change Levy for renewable energy use beginning August 1, 2015. Since 2001, industrial users of energy derived from renewable sources have not paid taxes on that electricity. Osborne called the exemption "outdated" and claimed U.K. citizens were subsidizing too much foreign energy production.

The European Commission announced it will take legal action against the United Kingdom for violating emission limits for nitrogen dioxide (NOx) at a coal-fired power plant in Wales. The Aberthaw plant, located in the Vale of Glamorgan, is permitted to emit over twice the NOx allowed under the EU's large combustion plant directive. That directive was passed seven years ago and is scheduled to be replaced by even stricter standards in 2016. The Commission believes it would be impossible for Aberthaw to meet the new standard, and expressed impatience over the UK's transition plan.

The United Kingdom's Parliament passed several amendments to its current infrastructure bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing, including imposing a legal duty on companies to disclose chemicals used in the injection process. The amendments were among a dozen proposed by the Labour party, which also included measures aimed at protecting groundwater resources. Industry has been dismissive of the regulations, claiming it is already voluntarily taking the measures now required by law.

At a conference in Berlin on November 20, $9.3 billion in pledges to the U.N. Green Climate Fund from donor nations were announced, bringing the fund closer to the U.N.'s informal target of $10 billion. The fund is intended to help developing nations invest in low emission development strategies and adapt to climate change. Pledges to the fund are seen as important to the achievement of a 2015 climate deal in Paris. Some of the funds included in the announcement were pledges that had been made previously, including $1.5 billion from Japan and $3 billion from the United States.