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Our Pet Are A Lifesaver During Lockdown
Our pets have been a lifesaver for us during Covid lockdown, according to the retailer Pets at Home, which has seen sales, rise sharply.
The Chief executive of Pets at Home said pets had played an incredibly important role through a period of social loneliness. He added that during the early days of lockdown one of the few reasons people could go out was to walk your dog.
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During the 6 months leading to the 8th October, Pets at Home saw revenues rise by 5.1%. Mr Pritchard told a national news organisation: "The pet care market has been incredibly strong throughout and I think that tells you an awful lot about people's relationships with their pets and the roles that pets play in people's lives.
"It has been a lifesaver for many through this incredibly challenging period for everybody in the country."
The change in more people working from home had allowed them to get a dog or a cat. More people have considered having a pet because their lives have changed and they are at home more often,
The company sells some small animals and fish but does not sell cats or dogs. They said, however, that membership of its Puppy & Kitten Club for new owners had risen by 25% during the six-month period. Pets at Home said online the first half of its financial year, which runs between April and 8th October, reflected the entire period since the week after national lockdown was implemented. Restrictions on households weighed on trade in the first quarter before a 12.7% jump in like-for-like sales in the second three months.
Pets at Home are classed as an essential retailer and have been allowed to stay open during lockdown. Total sales over the six months rose to £574.4m while pre-tax profit grew by more than 14% to £38.9m.
The company is very proud to state they did not place any employees on furlough and said that it has actually been recruiting more staff.
The company warned of uncertainty because of the pandemic and said in a statement: "At this stage, absent any escalation of restrictions, or other significant disruption to our operations, we now anticipate full-year underlying pre-tax profit to be in line with the prior year."
Looking ahead, with the value of the UK pet market set to hit £7bn next year and the nation's love affair with pet ownership showing little sign of abating, chief executive of Pets at Home said in a online statement: “The future appears well justified." However the retailer would be "mindful of the dampening effect of social distancing measures in store, which may impact margins over the all-important Christmas period and into the first quarter of 2021".
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Gas boilers should not be sold after 2033 and all electricity production should be zero carbon by 2035 if the United Kingdom is to reach the target of net zero emissions by 2050.
That is the warning from the climate change committee, which advises the government on how the country can reach the milestone. Other advice from the committee includes: This is the right carbon budget for the UK at the right time.
"We deliver our recommendations to government with genuine enthusiasm, knowing that Britain's decisive zero-carbon transition brings real benefits to our people and our businesses while making the fundamental changes necessary to protect our planet."
The committee said the government should The steps will require £50bn a year by 2030, make sure the UK's emissions are cut by 78% most of which will have to come from the compared to 1990 levels by 2035. private sector, the committee said.
It follows the government's announcement The Treasury is also likely to have to double last week that it aims to reduce emissions by funding for green measures to between £9bn 68% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. and 12bn a year in 2030. But the committee said making homes greener could be done The government has also already said sales without large increases to energy bills and of new petrol and diesel cars will end in 2030. motorists could see the costs of driving fall after they shift to electric cars. Dr Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the • People should be encouraged to reduce Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: their meat and dairy consumption by 20% "Calling time on gas boilers will represent by 2030, with meat eating reduced by a major step on the UK's path to a carbon 35% by 2050, meaning more peatland to neutral nation and is a way for families up absorb carbon and to plant trees and down the country to take action on their • Other carbon intensive activities should carbon footprints." also be cut, with a slower growth in flights, reductions in car travel, cutting But some climate campaigners say that the waste and boosting recycling Climate Change Committee’s target of 78% • More action on energy efficiency, emissions reduction does not go far enough. especially insulating buildings Mike Childs, head of science at Friends of the • Electricity will be zero carbon by 2035, Earth, said: “This is too conservative given the with a phase out of gas power that does havoc and misery extreme weather is already not have technology to capture and store causing, particularly to the poorest people its carbon emissions, and renewables - in particular offshore wind - generating 70% of power in the world who have contributed least to climate breakdown. • By 2035, 460,000 hectares of new mixed “We should be aiming to phase out the woodland should be planted to remove carbon dioxide, increasing woodland should be planted to remove carbon installation of new gas boilers well before 2030 and fitting approximately 10 million heat dioxide, increasing woodland cover from pumps by the same date.
“It’s what government does right now that will determine if we meet our carbon pollution reduction goals. And what the government is doing is ploughing £27bn into climate-wrecking roads as well as funding damaging fossil-fuel projects overseas.”
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