Gwent Levels 2026 - Gwent Levels Campaign -UPDATE

GWENT LEVELS 26

GWENT LEVELS CAMPAIGN

Robert Minhinick

Ten days before Christmas, 2023, I went with writer and artist Laura Wainwright to explore parts of the ‘Gwent Levels’, at Uskmouth.

It was my first visit, although Laura sometimes takes her children walking there.

‘The Reen’ was written for the Gwent Levels campaign, occurring at the same time as the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. I found combining the situations in Gwent Levels and Gaza, entirely natural. Thus ‘The Reen’ was used in an exhibition for Friends of the River Wye by Eamon Bourke, displayed in the Food Hall, Hay Festival site.

It is available on-line from ‘Modron’, and features in ‘Thrall: Poems & Art’, a collection of art and poetry by Minhinnick and Wainwright, Seventh Quarry Press 2025.

The weather proved raw , but we were both delighted to encounter immediately some of the very particular wildlife that inhabits the area.

I saw my first ever reed bunting, and keen-eyed Laura identified a heron on the Severn mudflats, and thus we are writing, painting and sketching our expedition highlights.

We went because the area is increasingly threatened by various developments. Only in the last four years has the Welsh government rejected plans for a new extension of the M4 motorway through parts of these wetlands.

But pressure to erect new solar farms on the Levels is stronger than ever.

Readings and RSPB talk:

Was held on 7pm Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at ‘Le Pub’, 19, High St., NEWPORT NP20 1FW.

 (Added following the event) -

STATEMENT by RSPB

Regarding development pressure on the Gwent Levels, the picture is quite mixed. The Welsh Government has increased protection for Sites of Special Interest such as the Levels.

The recent enquiry for Craig Y Perthi solar farm at Bishton recommended the development be rejected partly because of the damage to the SSSI and partly for its impact on the historic landscape.

This would seem to give some cause for optimism for those opposed to other similar developments.

However, the massive (monstrous) solar farm proposal at Redwick has just begun its pre-planning public consultation.

As this development is of national UK significance, it will ultimately be decided in Westminster, with Welsh Government relegated to a consultee.

Chris Harris RSPB

(Read by Robert Minhinnick, Le Pub, Newport, 27.01.26)

Proving Sustainable Practices: Time for a Carbon Audit

“A carbon audit? That won’t be useful to me!”

Farming has shaped the Welsh countryside and provided food for generations. Today, the farming community has a new job: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining and enhancing the environment surrounding our rural communities. 

This focus isn’t entirely new. Farmers have cared for the landscape for years, and environmental stewardship has become ever more prominent since grant payments were linked to environment-based improvements. The new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in Wales makes a key positive step in highlighting these positive steps through measuring the carbon emissions and sequestration on farm in a process called baselining or carbon auditing.

Why is this important? When the agricultural industry comes under scrutiny, for the most part we do not have any evidence of the environmental improvements we are making.

Image of brown and black cows in a field

Carbon Auditing

A carbon audit measures both a farm’s carbon emissions and its ability to sequester carbon with crops, trees and soil. Data such as livestock numbers and crop yields is collected, allowing farmers to see where emissions occur.

In some cases, the data can also reveal on-farm biodiversity levels and provide insights into water management and nutrient leaching.

A quantifiable result can then be given for the positive actions a farming business carries out. For example, planting hedges may lead to a higher biodiversity score. 

The Welsh Government will generate a baseline from data collected from farmers for the SFS. Established carbon auditing tools where farmers input data in themselves include Sandy from Trinity AgTech, Agrecalc from the SRUC and Farm Carbon Calculator from Farm Carbon Toolkit. All have different systems, data entry and benefits.  

Due to this process being relatively new however, there are some drawbacks to carbon auditing I should point out.

The Problems

Firstly, beginning the process of data collection on some farms can be challenging- especially when the required information is buried in an overflowing filing cabinet. Advisers from the carbon tools can be a useful asset at this point, and implementing farm management software can make year-on-year reporting of sustainable developments quick and easy. Management platforms you may have heard of include Herdwatch and Omnia.

It would also be remiss of me not to point out that these auditing tools are far from perfect. Although significant development has occurred over recent years, each auditing tool will likely give a different answer from another. This is due to the different models, figures and levels of detail inputted into the tools in the first place. 

This doesn’t mean, however, using the same tool cannot point out progress and demonstrate the areas of high emissions on farm. 

Why should I get a carbon audit?

I often hear the statement “A carbon audit? That won’t be useful to me!”. There is a danger that those in SFS will view their carbon baseline as a matter of box ticking. This would be a shame as there are so many uses for a carbon audit for all farmers, inside or outside an environmental scheme.

Efficiency & Profitability

A carbon audit can help improve what every business wants, efficiency. Carbon in its multitude of forms is an asset. Crucially minimising its loss or emission means we don’t need to buy more in. How do we minimise this loss? First, we have to identify where this loss occurs. A carbon audit may show cattle slurry has more associated greenhouse gas emissions than your average farm for example. Future plans may focus on catching that gas, keeping the asset and using its potential to produce electricity or fuel a tractor. 

Tenancy agreements

Other, less expected, answers to the question are also available. For example, imagine you are bidding to take on a new tenancy. If evidence can be provided (by an audit) that you are adept as a business at increasing biodiversity or reducing carbon emissions this may be of interest to the landowner in meeting their sustainability targets, thus increasing your chances. 

Securing contracts

This competitive advantage may be further evident when competing for contracts. Processors are under pressure from consumers and investors to meet their net zero targets. They are more likely to select producers who can contribute to this goal. 

New markets

Direct benefit can also come from appealing to the 16% of consumers that rank the environment as the largest influence on choosing the food they buy (AHDB/Blue Marble Trust Survey 2024). Catering to this increasing behavioural trend gives access to new markets and opportunities for adding value to outputs. 

The move toward sustainability is unlikely to stop. Driven by consumers, investors, and policymakers, the use of carbon audits is likely to become common place in future grant-based schemes, with many farmers already contractually obliged to complete one.

The next move?

We as an agricultural industry are proud of how we manage the land. But we need to shout about what we achieve. Evidence based shouting will make our position stronger when selling goods, lobbying government and maintaining our role as land managers. How do we get this evidence? It’s time to use carbon auditing.

Iory Hughes, Sustainable Wales Advisor

‘Eco-populism’, public support for climate action, and why we need to talk about fairness

“We must act now—right now—to tackle climate change. It’s one minute to midnight on that doomsday clock.”  

That isn't a quote from Ed Miliband, the embattled Energy Security and Net Zero Minister, nor Zack Polanski, the freshly elected, self-described eco-populist of the Green Party. That’s actually a quote from Boris Johnson while he was Prime Minister. The fact that comment feels so jarring demonstrates just how far the mainstream has moved from the cosy consensus on climate action and net zero (a legal target introduced by the Conservatives in 2019).  

In late 2025 we have both Reform (who were 92% funded by fossil fuel interests between 2019 and the 2024 election) and the Conservatives being explicitly anti-net zero, anti-climate action and even anti-climate science. Senior figures in the Labour Party appear to be looking for an excuse to distance themselves further from a set of policies which were once the centrepiece of their pitch to voters – despite the positive vision set out in their recently-published Warm Homes Plan.  

In truth, there has been growing disquiet over net zero and climate policies for some time and, as the transition encroached further into peoples' lives and began to influence how they heated their homes, moved around and what they ate, a compelling positive case for action was going to have to be made.  

It can feel like the battle has already been lost, that we (and perhaps our closest friends and relatives) still care about climate but no one else really does. New, detailed polling from the excellent Climate Outreach Britain Talks Climate and Nature report, demonstrates this isn’t the case. They found that 74% of respondents felt climate change was an important issue. However, their research also found that the public feel deeply disillusioned.  

 

They state:  

“People feel overlooked, disillusioned about the present and fearful for the future, and many are yet to be convinced that net zero offers a positive way forward.” 

 

This gap, between how individuals feel people other than themselves think about nature and climate change, and the reality set out in Climate Outreach’s report, where we can see nature and climate remain major concerns for a significant majority, has a name – pluralistic ignorance – where we significantly underestimate others’ levels of concern about an issue. This, coupled with widely felt disillusionment and distrust of institutions and decision-makers is a harmful phenomenon as it leaves us feeling isolated, prevents us having the conversations we need to be having, hinders positive action and leaves the door open to anti-climate rhetoric that is falsely assumed to be the majority view.  

The Climate Outreach findings begin to point to solutions to this issue. They’re an organisation concerned with climate communications, and they suggest it is critical that public figures 'translate and explain, don’t assume or assert’. This means cutting down on technical jargon, but most importantly, communicating in clear and inviting ways which describe enthusiastically why a policy matters and what it means for people’s lives. They recommend focusing on wider benefits of climate action and to remember that most people still believe achieving net zero will be good for the country (while not taking this support for granted).  

 

This analysis feels broadly correct and anyone interested in these topics should definitely look at Climate Outreach’s work for deeper insights. Pairing environmental and economic/social concerns has to be the way forward.  

When the British public are polled on what the most important issues facing the country are, they consistently rank some combination of Health, Immigration, The Economy, and Crime in their top 5 with the 5th spot taken by one of Tax, The Environment, Housing, Welfare or Defence. I would argue that nature and climate have a relationship to each of these, either because the impacts of climate change and collapsing ecosystems exacerbate these issues, or because well-designed policy to address them (i.e. building or retrofitting homes, encouraging the adoption of low cost public transport, supporting local, low carbon economies, etc) will have a material impact on mitigating or adapting to climate change and nature loss. There’s evidence of this fusion of climate action with progressive economic thinking taking place, with prominent left of centre think tanks and commentators now consistently making this case. We’ve also seen Friends of the Earth appoint Asad Rehman, whose previous role was head of War on Want, as their new CEO. Switched-on politicians and public figures would do well to apply this kind of eco-populist framing to their campaigns and policymaking.  

New Report: Sustainable Wales’ housing decarbonisation priorities.

2026 Senedd Manifesto Recommendations

Sustainable Wales’ housing decarbonisation priorities.

Sustainable Wales is Wales’ first and longest-running grassroots sustainable development organisation. We work with individuals, communities, voluntary groups, schools, educators, local authorities, public sector bodies, businesses, civil servants and politicians to offerconstructive and practical solutions and encourage a passion for sustainable living.

Wales has some of the oldest and least efficient housing stock in Europe, while our energy bills are among the highest in Europe. For many households every day sees them making an impossible choice between heating or eating.

Housing is integral to peoples’ perception of place and decarbonising homes in Wales will bring significant benefits across a series of social and economic spheres and should be a priority for all parties ahead of the 2026 Senedd election.

As an organisation, we have significant housing policy-related experience developed over multiple projects over the past 20 years. We are also fortunate to have Advisors and Trustees with considerable experience in Welsh housing and housing decarbonisation.

We have set out our position in this report.