UK will take a "fresh look" at contributing to Brazil TFFF fund to protect the world's rainforests, says top climate envoy www.linkedin.com/pulse/uk-rec...

Global CO2 emissions have hit another record high. The glimmer of good news it there is now a “green club” of 35 countries including Britain that are cutting emissions while growing GDP. A decade ago there were just 18. And another 19 are on the verge of joining. www.linkedin.com/pulse/global...

Ministers have chosen the Welsh island of Anglesey as the location for the UK’s first “mini” nuclear power stations. Story: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

I saw a Peacock butterfly in the South Downs at the weekend. Is anyone else in the UK seeing weird signs of a "second summer for nature" because of the mild weather? E.g. flowers blooming again, insects that wouldn't normally be out in November. Would love to hear your examples...

International talks in Brazil to curb climate change will prove doubters wrong and show that most countries are shifting towards clean energy, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has said Story: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Not a single country has joined a global clean power alliance launched by Britain and Brazil a year ago It was billed by Sir Keir Starmer as an “inverse Opec”, in a nod to the powerful cartel of Saudi Arabia and other major oil-producing countries Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Britain’s red-tailed bumblebees may have an unlikely saviour in solar farms www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A quarter of Britain’s native plants are now at risk of extinction The first update in two decades to a “red list” of plants found a substantial increase in the number of threatened species www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

The EU has finally agreed an NDC ahead of COP30 (although it's not submitted it yet as the bloc only agreed it late last night!) Goal of 66.25%-72.5% cut below 1990 levels until 2035 www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...

How is the world getting on with its promise to end deforestation by 2030? Here's my stocktake as countries prepare for the #COP30 climate conference in the Amazon rainforest next week www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

China's 2035 emissions target (NDC) has been formally submitted to the UN (unfccc.int/NDCREG?field...) Follows Xi Jinping announcement in September (www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...) Confirms target of 7-10% emissions cut by 2035, says 30% of power will come from solar and wind by then

The British public's concern about climate change bounced back up this summer It's now roughly in line with where it stood during 2023 and 2024 But it's still slightly down from 2021 in the run-up to the #COP26 climate summit at Glasgow www.gov.uk/government/s...

Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately, the secretary general of the UN has warned. Quite a story by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social. Others have said same before, but big deal coming from Guterres. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Recent downpours have not done enough to alleviate drought in England, leading to warnings that hosepipe bans affecting millions could last deep into winter Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Water companies’ environmental performance last year was the worst since a government star rating scheme started 14 years ago. www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Water companies may be forced to pay out automatic fines worth more than £30 million a year for failing to prevent illegal sewage spills under reforms to end water industry “rule-breaking” www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

A UN meeting to impose a carbon price on shipping for the first time has been adjourned for a year The IMO net zero framework meeting was due to adopt a carbon price first agreed in the spring But the US opposed the adoption, calling it a "scam". Trump appears to have got his way and won a delay

@elpinchbeck.bsky.social: "Over 80% of the rise over the last 10 years in energy bills has been about the price of gas" @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org interview here www.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-b...

Phone4u founder John Caudwell: "As someone with decades of business experience, I can tell you that scrapping the Climate Change Act isn’t bold or pragmatic. It’s failure dressed up as freedom." observer.co.uk/news/politic...

UK hit by first ‘mega fire’ in worst year on record for wildfires www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increased by a record amount last year, says @wmo-global.bsky.social. The record annual rise comes amid growing signs that forests, peatlands, oceans and other natural "sinks" are failing to absorb as much CO2 as they normally do. wmo.int/publication-...

The amount of global installed renewable power capacity increased by 14% last year (extra 582GW!). It's not quite on track for the tripling by 2030 that nations agreed at COP28 in Dubia two years ago, but it's pretty damn good. New @irena-official.bsky.social report: www.irena.org/Publications...

The UK should start planning for high levels of global warming — at least 2C above pre-industrial levels by 2050 and 4C by 2100. "We believe that can’t be ruled out,” said Baroness Brown of @thecccuk.bsky.social, on the risk of 4C by the end of the century. Story: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has approved Tillbridge solar, a major new 500MW solar farm in Lincolnshire. It's the 10th nationally significant solar farm he has approved since taking office, bringing the total to 4.2GW. Decision here: infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/i...

Just looking up what Boris Johnson said for COP21 in Glasgow. Felt almost nostalgic. The tone and content feel like something from another century, not just four years ago. Incredible how much things have changed in UK politics in just four years. x.com/borisjohnson...

This is interesting. Greenpeace has accused the Crown Estate of pushing up the costs of offshore wind power by exploiting its monopoly ownership of the seabed, adding to consumer bills and stunting the industry. The green group is threatening to sue: www.ft.com/content/c29c...

Some Commonwealth countries won't exist in the future if we don't get to grips with climate change, says Theresa May www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czun...

🌊I caught up with veteran oceanographer Sylvia Earle, who recently turned 90. "What really caught my imagination, even as a child, was the extraordinary diversity of life in the sea. Creatures that have no counterpart on the land, like starfish". 📺Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEsb...

Officials in Downing Street have blocked publication of a report warning that the collapse of tropical rainforests could push up food prices in British supermarkets. Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

The biggest environmental pollution legal action brought in the UK will be filed in the High Court on Wednesday over alleged degradation of the River Wye. Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Renewables have overtaken coal in the global electricity mix for the first time, @ember-energy.org has found www.linkedin.com/pulse/renewa...

Margaret Thatcher would have been “appalled” at plans by the Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch to scrap the Climate Change Act, according to Lord Deben. The Tory peer said it would cost jobs & votes. Former Tory MP Lord Sharma said it "risks future investment" www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Health risks to general public of breathing in nano- and micro-plastics are "uncertain", say science advisers to the UK government The advisers (COMEAP) basically say we don't know enough to assess the risk of inhaling these tiny particles assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d66c...

Sad about Jane Goodall. She had a way with words. “I spent so long in nature on my own, that I really only need to close my eyes, and I'm sort of back there. If I'm in the middle of the city, I could close my eyes I can imagine the rumbling rain was the rain pounding on the canvas," she told me.

The boss of Britain’s biggest energy supplier has ridiculed the idea that energy demand from a boom in data centres can only be met by gas and nuclear power plants. “It’s horseshit,” said Octopus CEO Greg Jackson. www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Lot of love from the crowd for Ed Miliband at Labour party conference - he just got a big ovation for his list of progress in last year, solar approvals, onshore wind ban undone, GB Energy etc.

@thecccuk.bsky.social letter tells UK government that its changes to the zero emissions vehicle mandate risks incentivising car makers to sell more plug-in hybrids rather than fully electric cars — which would mean higher CO2 emissions www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/u...

"The excuse most often provided for turning away from green measures, for expanding fossil fuel production, for ignoring the science, is pragmatism.... this is dangerous drivel". @profbillmcguire.bsky.social hits the nail on the head www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The UK's goal of 95% clean power by 2030 might sound Herculean. But the UK has made more progress than many people think: it's already on 74%. New official figures out today www.gov.uk/government/s...

NEW Analysis by @carbonbrief.org reveals there's been record 87 hours this year where national electricity demand was fully covered by clean sources It is a sign of a rapidly-transforming energy system. But there's still a "very long way" to 2030 clean power goal www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Mad that the NYT is having to produce videos on basics such as "yes, climate change is happening" and "yes, renewables have become much cheaper" But here we are. This is very nicely and clearly done by @sominisengupta.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/video/climat...

Ministers are considering a green light to expand existing North Sea oil and gas fields despite Labour’s manifesto pledge to ban new ones. @tessakhan.bsky.social says industry figures for those expansions are a "fantasy" Labour says manifesto will be met Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

I haven't seen any independent observers say that China's NDC is strong. But it's pretty rich of the EU to criticise the target when it couldn't even get its house in order to publish a NDC in time for the UN's deadline (which has already been extended!). www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Sir Keir Starmer has no plans to attend the UN COP30 summit in Brazil in November, despite having branded Rishi Sunak’s absence from the world’s top climate conference a “failure of leadership” just a few years ago.  www.ft.com/content/5f8f...

NEW The government is considering plans to weaken a law protecting England’s national parks, in a move criticised as “outrageous” and “devastating”. Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/history/a...

Meanwhile, back in the world of facts. wmo.int/publication-...

It's not just that airport expansion will make climate change worse. Climate change will also make airports worse. New study of 30 European airports projects warming will increase the number of people exposed to noise pollution by mid-century www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12...

UK energy regulator Ofgem has picked 77 "super battery" projects - Li-Ion batteries, flow batteries and pumped hydro storage - to support peaks and troughs in wind and solar power And hopefully, to cut constraint payments to windfarms (£1bn+ in 2024) ofgem-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/super-b...

China will announce plans this week to cut its carbon emissions 10-15% by 2035, sources tell the Economist Expert think it may already have peaked emissions or be on the verge of doing so However, a 30% cut by 2035 is needed to hit the world's 1.5C climate goal 👇 www.economist.com/china/2025/0...

"10 years after the Paris Agreement, governments plan to produce more than double the volume of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C" Stark "production gap" report from @unep.org today www.sei.org/publications...