We have a growing waste problem, which has been around for some time and is only getting worse. Dumping of sewage is threatening the health of our rivers. Plastics have penetrated deep into the world’s oceans. Leakages from landfills, farming and industry are contaminating our soil and groundwater. Waste pollution harms public health, biodiversity and the environment. To address it, we need new laws and huge investments. There has been much recent controversy in the UK around Sewage in Our Waters. New laws would have to specify who has the responsibility of undertaking the transition and the investments – water companies, producers, consumers or governments? Preventing transboundary waste flows would require international action to plug loopholes in domestic laws and international conventions.

To debate these issues, we bring together the Sky News Economics Editor Ed Conway who has written on legacy sewage systems, the CEO of a key frontline organisation tackling river pollution River Action UK James Wallace, the CEO of Water UK that represents water and wastewater companies across the UK David Henderson, and policy expert on international laws Kamala Dawar from QMUL Law. The event will begin with an introduction on the state of our waters by LSE’s Swati Dhingra, External Member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

Meet our speakers and chair

Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) is economics and data editor of Sky News, covering major UK and international economics, business and political stories. He has broken a series of exclusive reports on the ]banking and financial crisis. He is also economics columnist for The Times, and has been one of the longest-running economics editors in UK journalism, having started covering the sector in 2003. Prior to joining Sky, he was economics editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, where he was also a weekly op-ed columnist, and economics correspondent at the Daily Mail.

Kamala Dawar is Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. She specialises in global economic governance, with a focus on international trade and sustainable development. She has over 25 years experience working with and for universities, international organisations, governments and public interest groups on international economic law and public policy issues such as trade, competition, public procurement, sustainable development and gender empowerment and social inclusion.

David Henderson joined Water UK as Chief Executive Officer in February 2023. His government experience includes working as an advisor to ministers in Australia and as an official in HM Treasury and 10 Downing Street. His most recent private sector experience includes holding global positions at WPP and KPMG.

James Wallace (@jaowallace) is Chief Executive of River Action. He is a naturalist, archaeologist and social entrepreneur and has established enterprises ranging from renewable energy, regenerative agriculture and green finance to ecotourism, nature restoration and deep sea exploration. Prior to helping Charles Watson develop River Action into a national charity, James was CEO and Co-founder of Beaver Trust where he led the coalition to protect and live alongside native beavers.

Stephen Machin (@s_machin_) is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, has been President of the European Association of Labour Economists, is a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists and was an independent member of the Low Pay Commission from 2007-14. 

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Achieving a sustainable balance between human activity and the natural environment while maintaining economic growth will require innovation. We need to make economic growth cleaner, control environmental externalities, and protect human populations from environmental change. To identify and explore these innovations, LSE Environment Week brings together researchers from all fields of economics—including development, macroeconomics, industrial organisation, public, finance, labour, trade, urban, theory, behavioural, and political economy—as well as environmental, energy, and climate experts.

The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (@STICERD_LSE), International Growth Centre (@The_IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (@POID_LSE) within the LSE Department of Economics is convening LSE Environment Week in London from 23-26 September 2024.

This is one of three public events during LSE Environment Week, the others are:

24 September - Innovative market solutions to confront climate change

25 September - Trade and climate change: managing policies on the road to net zero

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Tony Zohari via Pexels.

Podcast & Video

A podcast from this event is available to download from Sewage in our waters.

A video of this event is available to watch at Sewage in our waters.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel