From Thames Water to tackling bottom trawling, discover the major environmental issues Burnham must urgently address
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Andy Burnham has navigated through a vast swathe of critical environmental issues in the UK. Here, we look at some of the major environmental concerns he must contend with…
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Thames Water
Thames Water is a ‘major test’ for Burnham. The company has extensive debt, with money paid by customers nowhere near the figures needed to fund its vast infrastructure upgrades. It has said it only has enough money to last until the end of this year, at which point two plans of action could be chosen.
The first is the government agreeing to a rescue deal. Former Environmental Secretary Emma Reynolds rejected this plan as ‘weak’, not providing enough protection for both consumers and the environment.
The second option could be for Thames Water to enter administration, at which point officials appointed by the government would run the company. However, this would leave the new Environment Secretary Angela Eagle requiring billions of pounds of public money to fund.
Redrilling of the North Sea
The UK government needs to decide whether to allow two new oil fields – Rosebank and Jackdaw – to go ahead. Labour’s 2024 manifesto expressed in no uncertain terms that any expansion of North Sea drilling would not go ahead. It said: ‘We will not issue new licences to explore new fields because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis.’
Some hope that Burnham’s background – coming from a part of the country impacted by deindustrialisation – may mean he is open to North Sea drilling.
In a last-minute attempt to appeal to Burnham, industry lobbyists have written to more than 400 Labour MPs in recent days, calling on the government to allow more oil and gas drilling in the UK.
Others remain sceptical that Burnham will be in favour of North Sea drilling. They point to his environmentalist background, where he took action on the climate in Manchester by focusing on public transport availability.
Deep-sea mining
Currently, the UK supports a temporary ban on the granting of deep-sea mining exploitation licences, involving the extraction of minerals such as precious metals, cobalt and copper. This has been in place since October 2023, under the previous Conservative government.
Supporters of the industry say that minerals and metals are essential for green technologies and for shifting away from fossil fuels. However, recent developments in technology have meant that these materials are less needed to produce batteries.
As of yet, deep-sea mining is restricted to exploratory testing – with no commercial extraction happening anywhere in the world. However, as companies prepare for production in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean, it will remain crucial that the UK continues to hold steadfast to a moratorium to protect the world’s – and its own – oceans.
Dwindling fossil fuel usage
The UK has a goal to deliver clean power by 2030 and to reach net-zero by the middle of the century.
In a significant move towards this goal, the UK became the first G7 economy to phase out coal power back in September 2024, one year earlier than the original 2025 target.
Another way that the UK Government is staying on track with its goals is the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, which will roll out wind and solar while mostly phasing out fossil fuels from electricity generation. Under the plan, fossil fuels will only be used during periods of ‘insufficient sun and wind‘. Burnham must contend with this plan, as well as considering whether North Sea oil and gas drilling pits itself against such goals.
Heatwave-resilient infrastructure
Geographical recently reported on how badly Britain’s infrastructure was coping amid a series of heatwaves throughout May and June. Railway lines buckled – causing delays to travellers – while schools were forced to shut. Even the NHS struggled in the scorching temperatures: six NHS trusts in England declared a critical incident last week when hot weather impacted their scanners, lab and cancer equipment and IT systems.
The UK’s weather is becoming warmer and wetter, and will only continue to do so in the coming years. Temperatures in the country have now exceeded 40°C, something that would be extremely unlikely in a climate unaffected by human activity.
According to think tank Verdant, the economic fallout from heatwaves in the UK is substantial. By the end of 2030, Verdant estimates output losses alone from heatwaves will total at least £25billion, if no action is taken.
Taking power next week, Burnham must consider how to build a more resilient Britain in the face of heatwaves – from health, climate and economic standpoints all at once.
Bottom trawling
In 2025, UK Government ministers did not implement an outright ban on bottom trawling, despite pledging to extend the ban on bottom trawling – a practice similar to bulldozing on land – to offshore protected areas.
Despite having official designation as protected areas, bottom trawling is still allowed to take place, endangering animals such as puffins, seahorses and dolphins.
Organisations like Oceana have since called on the UK to ban bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in order for the UK to achieve its commitment of protecting 30 per cent of its seas by 2030.
In 2023 alone, more than 33,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling took place in the UK’s offshore MPAs.
