Expansion of the UK Boiler Upgrade Scheme now offers a £2,500 grant for air-to-air heat pumps alongside the existing £7,500 support for air-source and ground-source units, making domestic air-conditioning eligible for government funding for the first time. Carrier Solutions UK, distributor of Toshiba systems, expects this to catalyse a residential air-conditioning market, particularly in flats and apartments currently using direct-electric or storage heating. Multi-split air-to-air systems, with one outdoor unit serving several rooms, are positioned as a practical retrofit route where conventional air-to-water heat pumps are hard to install.

Former Association of Mining and Exploration Companies South Australian director and 20‑year resources veteran has been appointed to the state’s new Coexistence board, set up to manage land access tensions between miners, farmers and other land users. The board is expected to advise on approvals and conditions for exploration and mining leases, with a focus on coexistence on freehold and pastoral land. For project teams, this signals closer scrutiny of stakeholder engagement, surface access agreements and disturbance footprints in South Australia.

Efforts to reform the Kimberley Process have stalled again after the World Diamond Council spent three years drafting a broader “conflict diamond” definition to include non-state armed groups and explicitly recognise artisanal and small-scale miners. The proposed wording aimed to move beyond the current focus on rebel movements against legitimate governments, addressing violence linked to private security forces, criminal gangs and abusive supply-chain intermediaries. Continued deadlock leaves producers, cutters and retailers operating under a narrow legal definition that diverges from NGO expectations and many downstream buyers’ ESG due-diligence standards.