ICYMI Global investment in energy likely to hit about $3.3 trillion (£2.4tn) this year More than $1tn of the total is still likely to flow into fossil fuels But double that amount – about $2.2tn – expected for low-carbon energy www.theguardian.com/environment/...

BBC calling Trump's address to UN 'remarkable' Let's call it what it is - unhinged Anyone who thinks London is heading for sharia law & that climate change is a con is either foolish, malign or misinformed US President shouldn't be misinformed - it's one of other 2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...

This is awkward for Nigel Farage - a Reform UK mayor is standing up for his local area, which means supporting green energy with jobs & investment it brings Is the Farage line is that he should impoverish his area in pursuit of Reform’s wider ideological agenda? www.bbc.com/news/article...

The BBC website brilliantly displays politics ability to ignore the long term, in this case on climate change, to make decisions that are self immolating in the name of apparent short term interest

If UK readers are in Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrats conference today you'd be welcome to this event where I'll be on the panel at 1pm talking about land, democracy, and nature Outside the secure zone so no pass needed

Trump is in today’s State Visit press conference saying wind power is "a disaster, a very expensive joke" Presumably he didn’t realise every other light 💡 and microphone 🎤 in that press conference was being powered by wind

NEW: Trump golf course in Scotland has breached sewage contamination limits 14 times since 2019 Groundwater samples breached contamination levels for oxygen demand, suspended solid particles & ammoniacal nitrogen - indicating human waste not properly treated www.theguardian.com/environment/...

No way any govt in EU or UK should take lectures from this US administration on freedom of speech Reeks of hypocrisy. Next time JD Vance stands up and tries to lecture the European continent about free speech, someone just needs to say "New York Times" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Thames river has some of the highest-recorded levels of microplastics in the world — scientists estimate flows of about 94,000 pieces per second in some areas There is no statutory monitoring of plastic pollution on the Thames or other English rivers www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...

"SUV loophole" allows heavier and more polluting cars, which cause disproportionate damage to roads & increased safety risk to pedestrians and cyclists, to escape with 20x less tax than other European countries This partly explains the surge in SUV sales in UK www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s...

Nigel Topping, new head of the UK Climate Change Committee, key advisers to govt: “The thing driving high costs now is gas. Very high gas prices right now have added to borrowing because the government’s had to support business and citizens" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK govt infatuation with nuclear power continues. Plans for Small Modular Reactors in places around UK No SMR has ever been built in the West. Those that have been tried have faced the familiar issues of escalating costs and delays A 🧵about this nuclear agreement www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Clean energy developers are in the early stages of trying to link North America with Europe via a 6GW 4,000km cable The UK could wake up w electricity from Canada’s hydropower, and send power back when it’s windy at midnight in North Sea and New Yorkers are making dinner www.ft.com/content/db0a...

Absolute bollocks gas & nukes considered green Nuclear reactors generate radioactive waste & there’s a risk of accidents Natural (=fossil) gas has lower carbon emissions than coal, but can have serious 'upstream' emissions & still warms the planet when burned www.independent.co.uk/news/europe-...

Reform UK's mash-up of conspiracy theories and junk science on climate change is now impacting local action But the climate will not care what Kent council thinks. The severely water-stressed county with a long coast line will feel climate impacts whatever www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Unexpected in the Express.... "Data from Purplebricks reveals the smartest way to future-proof your home is to improve its energy efficiency. Upgrades such as solar, smart meters, EV chargers & heat pumps, can increase average UK home by as much as 14% – £40,000" www.express.co.uk/life-style/p...

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party being advised by a think tank denying climate science They live in a fantasy world: “We cannot have a climate crisis predicated on the notion of global warming when temperatures remain unusually cold" Which planet are they on? www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Trump administration now has an “inter-departmental coalition team” to kill offshore wind, & destroy an industry that would've put $$ tens of billions of investment into the US Presumably massive fossil fuel industry donations to Trump had nothing to do with it www.rechargenews.com/policy/trump...

Times reports "soaring" number of Britons think climate change is exaggerated Well, not really - they're still in a heavy minority Not good news but tbh given relentless tide of shite about climate action served up by RW media I'm pleased it isn't worse 🧵 1/4 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Really interesting proposal from @dougparr.bsky.social, @adambell.bsky.social, et al for how the government could ringfence gas power stations and cut domestic energy bills in the process. www.businessgreen.com/news/4518483...

There are good reasons for seeing geoengineering - large scale interventions in the planetary environment to restrict climate change - as a dodgy idea We can add, for Arctic interventions, they don't work They're not a get-out-of-jail-free card for fossil industries www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Despite official designation as protected areas for creatures incl dolphins, puffins & seahorses, damaging industrial methods still allowed "These include bottom trawling - dragging heavy nets across seabed to scoop up everything, most of which is discarded" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Solar panel installations estimated to save schools in Coventry a combined total of £90,000 per year I guess Reform UK need to explain why they don't want schools to save that money? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Those living in the worst 10% of areas for PM2.5 pollution had a 27% higher risk of developing heart failure, compared with people in the least worst 10%. "The risk of having a stroke was 7% higher for people in the areas with the dirtiest air" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

📣 So excited to share this amazing video of Westmill: from one man's vision, to two #cooperatives with 3,000 members, generating enough #electricity to power around 4,500 homes, and donating £1m to the local #community ⚡ 💡 🏚️ 🤝 #coops #greenenergy #solarpower #wind www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sBm...

Even under much-hated EU farming rules, farmers had to keep a 2-metre buffer between their fields and rivers. Post-Brexit farmers may try to increase income by ploughing up to river edge More than 400km2 of riverside habitat may have been lost #BrexitBenefits www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"While the big figures in Reform’s leadership have backed fracking, this sentiment disappears in areas where it could actually take place. In Lancashire, Reform councillors said fracking was not right for the north-west after a series of [fracking] earthquakes" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

CO2 storage is a “scarce resource” rather than “an unlimited solution” say Grantham Institute, owing to inaccessibility, earthquakes, population centres It should not be “wasted on offsetting ongoing and avoidable CO₂ pollution” from fossil fuels that can be substituted www.ft.com/content/7ace...

Moving gas plants - which set the price of electricity- out of the market and into a nationally controlled reserve, would take £5bn off the UK’s energy bills “Renewable energy is cheaper than gas but we’re not reaping all of the benefits clean power brings” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

"Ms Badenoch is right that the North Sea will be the cornerstone of UK's energy future, but what happens above the surface will be more consequential than what lies beneath "Wind power is already the engine room of the grid, providing 30% of UK's electricity last year" news.sky.com/story/drill-...

Norway doubles down on oil & gas, but may be misreading the future One EU official: “We want all the Norwegian oil & gas we can get now. But we don’t want to give them carte blanche to drill forever. I’m not sure they have realised that.” www.ft.com/content/5ea1...

The UK has experienced drought & falling food yields this summer, yet "while 2025 has set a new record, we could plausibly experience much hotter summers in our current & near-future climate...what have been seen as extremes in the past are becoming more common" www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

Why UK Tories & Reform are wrong when they position drilling in the North Sea as an answer to UK energy security "Between now and 2050, new licences are expected to provide just 103 days of gas at today’s demand – that's four days worth of gas a year on average" www.upliftuk.org/post/the-fut...

Excellent analysis by @chrisgoodall2.bsky.social‬ showing more renewables = lower electricity market prices Does not necessarily mean lower energy bills because of support payments but Chris concludes that "would by no means wipe out the central conclusion" www.carboncommentary.com/blog/2025/8/...

Tory leader Badenoch says the party will remove all net zero requirements on North Sea oil &gas companies Badenoch is to focus on "maximising extraction" Like saying if there were a fight in a pub, everyone would have to repair the damage except those starting the brawl www.bbc.com/news/article...

The biggest lake in the UK is being steadily poisoned The rescue plan demanded by residents & fishermen, whose lives are being blighted, is being blocked by a powerful farming lobby www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, an ocean current, keeps Northern Europe warm Without it, winters in London could see cold extremes of -20C New study says collapse of the current due to climate change is 25% chance even in low emission futures www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK would allow a fossil fuel company owned by a Donald Trump donor to open up a huge fracking site in Greater Lincolnshire It "shows exactly whose interests they serve – and it’s certainly not ordinary people" says @tessakhan.bsky.social‬ www.desmog.com/2025/08/27/r...

The Trump Effect Wind power investment in US during first half of 2025 hits lowest point since before 2015 So where does that money go? Wind power investment in Europe in same period reaches record high, by some way www.ft.com/content/2e3e...

BREAKING: UK markets regulators have opened an investigation into Drax over the sustainability of its sourcing of wood for biomass pellets from 2022-24 This is potentially a much more serious investigation than ones conducted previously by MPs or by the energy regulator www.ft.com/content/368c...

Climate change is increasing summer temperatures in the UK 2025 will be the warmest ever recorded according to the Met Office, compounding the drought in many parts of the country www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Former head of EDF says the EPR nuclear reactor - the one EDF is building at Hinkley & Sizewell - is “phenomenally complex”, “almost unbuildable” Here's how costs of Sizewell compares with other reliable low carbon power Why did UK govt go ahead with this boondoggle? www.ft.com/content/ee89...

There might be a squabble between USA and Europe about clean technology, with US blocking it. Meanwhile the reactionary Right in Europe try to dilute climate action But lots of countries in Global South are just getting on with it, and will be leaving the US (and quite possibly Europe) for dust

Imports of solar panels to Africa rose by 60% over 12 months to June 2024 If installed, Sierra Leone imported enough solar to generate 60% of 2023 supply PV imports to Algeria up 33x; to Zambia, Botswana & Sudan over 6-fold; tripled to DRC, Angola, Ethiopia www.theenergymix.com/africa-could...

Sharp contrast A 5% loss of UK GDP by end of decade from nature degradation. WWF (and UK govt) say business investment in nature needs to lead in preventing this Meanwhile Prime Minister & Chancellor declare war on bats & newts, strip away nature protections www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Reform UK continue to chase fracking for gas in England, the energy equivalent of gold at the end of the rainbow As a former Conservative minister says: “It is much more difficult than it is in the US. It's more expensive. It's more polluting. It's more disruptive” www.bbc.com/news/article...

China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America's entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024 www.independent.co.uk/news/china-a...

In Q2 of this year, a record level of renewable energy capacity was given planning permission in Britain There's also a surge in battery storage planning applications as the govt plan for clean power seems to be gathering pace www.ft.com/content/926a...

If you're a community in the vicinity of South Oxfordshire and need a bit of ££ to get a small clean energy project going (insulation, PV, heat pumps....), check out if you can get some help from this funding scheme

After Russia invaded Ukraine it became illegal to import Russian timber into UK - it's led to a smuggling boom A survey of 3,000 timber samples found more than 10% were either of different origin or species than the seller described - 3/4 of these were from Russia www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...