Roger Harrabin
@RHarrabin
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Pioneer BBC enviro analyst. Chair/speaker/storyteller on clean tech, water, transport, cities, rural. Hon fellow @caths cambridge. Agent [email protected]
London
Joined September 2011
I am a great believer in letting nature have its way. But this fat wisteria in Sheen, south-west London, is truly extraordinary. Are the residents very thin? The gap is about 10 inches.
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Cripes - only a month to go now before I leave BBC after 35 years. I did my last turn on Today Prog earlier. Felt very upset walking home. Not for me, but for the fate of the planet. Most people still have no idea how bad it's likely to be.
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I’ve just been kicked out of this ‘private event’ - a lobby conference with @rishisunak about to start. I’ve been reporting on climate for 35 years so it’s possible I know more than most Pollcorrs. That’s why the environment corrs are left outside. @fionaharvey
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Even if you hate @GreenpeaceUK, you might give them credit for a really smart stunt, draping @RishiSunak house in black. No-one hurt or delayed. Over quickly. No huge police presence. Unmissable image for media.
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We have stayed next to this unspoilt #wildflower meadow for a week. Hardly seen any insects at all. What on earth is going on? @Buzz_dont_tweet @RSPBNews
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400,000 trees planted in roadwork schemes have died. This is exactly why we shouldn’t rely on treeplanting carbon offsets. We should wake up to the fact that #netzero is not enough. We need absolute zero. @billmckibben @ProfBillMcGuire.
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Brutal take-down of @RestoreTrustNT at @nationaltrust AGM. RT wants Trust to publish funding sources and show salaries. Trust does that, but RT refuses.
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Personal news: I'm leaving BBC staff in June after 35 years reporting on environment and energy. It's been great - but opportunities beckon in the post-COP26 world. More later. @ECIU_UK @ELPinchbeck @CarbonBrief @Revkin @CBItweets @_richardblack @rburgessbbc.
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56% of young people think humanity is doomed by climate change. Climate fears are rational, researchers say. Meanwhile papers say road-blocking ecoactivists are irresponsible. @eciu @CarbonBrief @GeorgeMonbiot.
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I've finally left BBC after 35 years on the environment. Thanks everyone for the tributes. Many brought me to tears. The one I like best was from UN's @Nick_Nuttall: "BBC without Roger is like solar power without sun, gin without tonic, the Muppets without Kermit." @rburgessbbc.
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Global heating likely to hit food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert. Really important story from @fionaharvey. We’re seeing devastation with 1.2C heating. We are heading for 3C. We aim to hold emissions by 2050. This is absurdly reckless
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Extraordinary - and outrageous. Two @InsulateBritain supporters jailed for seven weeks after being found in contempt of court for telling a jury that fuel poverty and the climate crisis motivated them to join the 2021 roadblocks. Judge told them not to mention the C word.
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Did #COP26 keep possibility of 1.5 alive? It depends on your faith in politicians to deliver. Remember UK is building roads and carbon-hungry HS2; drilling for more oil; making it cheaper to fly and drive in Britain. @RishiSunak didn’t mention climate in Budget. Do we trust??.
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Appalled to hear effects of drought on #Wye and #Usk. No rain since March 10 says @BBCFarmingToday . That’s with just 1.2C of heating. We are heading for 2-3C warming. I look forward to hearing discussion in the #Tory leadership race.
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Vast #Cambridgeshire field with five metre mown grass verge. Green desert. So 20th century. Why not wildflowers or a hedge?
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#QueensSpeech: "We are making the largest ever investment in motorways and A-roads worth over £27 billion". How does that square with #COP26?.
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HS2: The secret files that expose a multibillion-pound cover-up. Fancy that. #HS2 is even worse than we thought and its how long construction will continue to emit Co2 for the rest of the century. A collective failure of parliament, govt and media.
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This is an extraordinary decision. Do they not know that insect life is in crisis?.
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I’m bored of saying it but just remember all this is with the temperature rise of just over one degree when we’re heading towards 3°. And we won’t get net 0 until 2050. Racing towards the cliff.
Flooding will substantially damage UK harvest in 2024 after the wettest 18 months on record, driven by warm temps locally & globally. This should (but likely won't) be a good corrective to the bunch who think 'we can just adapt' to climate change.
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70% of flights made by 15% of people. Such an important stat that I've retweeted it yet again. @TomBurridgebbc @GeorgeMonbiot @CraigBennett3 @AAPresident @e3g @BBCSimonJack @grantshapps @michaelgove.
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BBC press office: Roger Harrabin has led the way in climate change reporting for 30 years. His expertise is recognised with an hon doctorate and visiting fellowships at oxford and Cambridge. @ECIU_UK @CarbonBrief @ed_hawkins @pilitaclark @Sathnam @rburgessbbc @r4Today @BBCNews.
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The effects of global heating are more severe than scientists expected - and they’ll almost certainly get much worse still, the UN’s former climate change chief. Prof Bob Watson told me. He said extreme weather events at 1.2C will be dwarfed as the world heats more.
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It is all the more distressing and outrageous that our prime minister, in the face of this avalanche of concern from scientists, decides to water down policies to tackle climate change. He will not be judged kindly.
Scientists are running out of words to describe the dramatic acceleration in global warming - Aug and now Sept 2023 were the hottest months ever recorded on Earth. The planet is entering dangerous territory, unprecedented for as much as 3 million years.
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BBC News passed a milestone today, with four climate-related stories in the flagship 0800 Radio bulletin. Snow, Beer, Glaciers, and electric cars. #Climate at last is becoming normalised as a news item. @citizenjoesmith @CraigBennett3 @davidshukmanbbc @BBCJustinR @BBCAmos.
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What frightens me about the climate crisis is we don’t know how bad things really are . My warning
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More than 50,000 of you are following me on Twitter. Thank you. I must decide now where to focus when I leave the BBC in a month. This weekend my grandson is getting christened. What sort of a world will he inherit, I wonder?.
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Some of us have been saying for years that #HS2 is a dud. But the government was lured by the construction industry, and Labour by the rail unions into supporting this absurdly wasteful project. Trainspotting Greens backed it too. What a shameful affair.
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I just had a day trip to Manchester and Liverpool then back to London. It’s been painless. I worked quietly with no email distraction. Why anyone needs to shave 20 mins off the journey, I cannot imagine. The people I’ve come to visit think the same. Politicians want #hs2.
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Ocean heat record smashed, with grim implications. This with warming of just 1.2° when scientists warn we are heading towards 3°. And in the week that the UK announces a bonanza for oil and gas. Will BBC Join the dots? @BBCJustinR
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I'm reporting tomorrow on the America heatwave. Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, tells me: “The extreme nature of the record (4.6C higher) is a cause for real concern. The models' behaviour may be too conservative." Plainly climate change could be worse than we thought.
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To all those environmentalists cheering the demise of @BorisJohnson – pause your celebrations until you see who comes next. There are plenty of contenders willing to flirt with the Climate Sceptic right wing.
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Extraordinary that N Sea drilling, which could take decades is being touted by Tories as a solution to today’s cost of living crisis. Either they don’t know this or they’re trying to fool the public. Short term solutions are energy saving (ignored) and solar (rejected).
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Prince Charles has used his office to promote concern about climate change. If he takes a vow of silence on the issue as king, a significant influence on national sentiment will be lost. Unless, that is, other Royals step up.
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Now we can see the devastation #climatechange will bring, with Libya floods and Antarctic ice loss. That’s with 1.2C rise so far. We’re heading towards 3C. So @RishiSunak decides to weaken green policies under pressure from the right. Really?
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As a former colleague, I wonder how the great Corporation will respond to what is now clearly a climate emergency. This is a completely different sort of category to any other story on the news. It’s time for them to respond appropriately.
I do understand how people find they just can't handle any more bad climate news but. we've reached a point where scientists can't believe the temperatures that we're reaching. Thanks to @ed_hawkins.
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I read that the @Telegraph is saying it's too late to combat climate change - better to adapt to it. Surely not? Its columnists have said for decades that climate's no big problem.
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No10 gives impression that 26% of land is already protected for Nature, so we're on the road to 30%. But that's false. Only 10% is protected for Nature, and half that is in poor condition.
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Cumbria County Council agree to review coal mine decision in light of Climate Change Committee carbon budget. @theCCCuk @Greenpeace.
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No10 is briefing that I say PM's #NetZero plans lead the world. That's true but I also predict they won't happen cos of lack of cash, PM's belief that tech will prevail, and his love of HS2, roads, oil, Cumbrian coal, beef, SUVs and flying. @GeorgeMonbiot.
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76% say we all should drive less to protect the #climate. Yet HMG plans £28.8bn roads. I've asked @dft how these are compatible. No answer. @grantshapps @Jesse_Norman @mragilligan @AndyMcDonaldMP @CarolineLucas @CBTransport @AAPresident @GeorgeMonbiot.
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Spending £1bn to insulate the worst homes is welcome - but the govt has been repeatedly told what's needed is a predictable multi-£bn effort over decades to grow an entire insulation industry.
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Six members of Doctors for XR cracked glass at JP Morgan offices in Canary Wharf . Group included two GPs, child mental health specialist, gynaecologist, consultant psychiatrist. Stickers on windows read ‘in case of medical climate emergency break glass’. It's hot. @xr_cambridge.
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Preserving existing peat is by far, by far the easiest and cheapest way of cutting carbon emissions. Yet the UK stumbles blindly onwards through the bog. What a disgrace.
This is so bitterly disappointing, and stinks of pathetic, "can't do" lobbying by a sector that's had 30 years to prepare. I sometimes wonder if the UK Horticulture sector is one of the least innovative, most dinosaur-like sectors in existence.
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"Shocking report from @theCCCuk on UK's plans to adapt to climate change. I've not heard these angry tones from the cttee before. Most glaring failures imo are homes and peat. @ECIU_UK @CarbonBrief @GeorgeMonbiot @Revkin.
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Really important: Study suggests that #heatpumps suitable for ALL types of homes. A blow for the massive gas lobby. Via @BusinessGreen @James_BG @eciu @UKERCHQ @BBCSimonJack.
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It's blindingly obvious that the government should stop funding any infrastructure development that doesn’t improve the climate or health. The @theCCCuk will offer advice on Weds.
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Loire Valley: heatwave parches France's 'garden'. We’re getting repeated extreme weather with just 1.2C of warming globally. We’re heading for 2C heating at least. Libertarians say don’t worry about climate change. Well, I’m worried.
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There is an argument that when we journalists report a wild weather episode proved to be related to climate change, we should routinely say “and this is with just one degree of warming, whereas we are heading towards 3°“.
Earth is now so far out of equilibrium (at around 1.1°C global mean surface temperature rise) that it is rapidly moving into a state hostile to existing human settlement of the planet. At this temperature, realistic projected costs are off the scale. 1.5°C impacts are unthinkable.
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‘No one wants to be right about this’: climate scientists’ horror as global predictions play out The excellent @BillHareClimate says "It’s as if humans have received a terminal medical diagnosis and know a cure, but has decided not to save itself.
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W Antarctic ice shelf melt 'unavoidable'. The result is potentially appalling. Why no graphic on @BBCNews site showing how many cities would drown without massive spending? And what about farmland? @rburgessbbc @BBCJustinR
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Ban short-haul flights for climate? In EU poll 62% say yes
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#Climate conference is being forced down the news agenda by the collapse of Thomas Cook, whose business is the fastest growing source of carbon emissions. #Irony @GeorgeMonbiot.
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At least two decades ago I realised the climate threat from Big Farmer (geddit?) But the BBC was getting such stick for my reports on CO2 from cars, planes and industry that I decided to go gently on the ag agenda. A shame, as @GeorgeMonbiot explains.
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Just a reminder. that well-known Green activist M Thatcher said in 1990: “The danger of global warming is as yet unseen, but real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future generations.”.
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When at Liz Truss was running department for the environment she came to chat to Bbc bosses. I asked her how she would protect the environment. She replied that the best policy for protecting the environment is de- regulation. Really. @BBCMarshall @charlottebsmith @rburgessbbc.
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Anecdotal - but here’s the harrabin household assessment of #ULEZ. We both notice we no longer need to wipe dirt off the washing line before hanging clothes. Windows are cleaner too. We used to breathe this filth. @POSSIBLE @SadiqKhan.
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Rishi Sunak made an extraordinary mistake in obeying the shouts from the right of his party to talk down Net Zero. We are in a global crisis and his attempts to downplay it make him look ridiculous and desperate.
This is interesting polling showing a majority of voters in Conservative rural heartland seats supports net zero, nature-friendly farm payments, and renewable energy generation.
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John Houghton - #climatechange pioneer, dies with C-19. In the late 1980s he awakened me to the global risk we're taking. Always calm, measured, modest. A Christian, he worked to convince US evangelical about the science. A good man. @revkin.
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Brilliant explainer on climate change on @BBCWorld. I know all this stuff, but it still knocked me sideways to see it presented in this way. Highly commended viewing.
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Recent science shows that #peat bogs are even more important for combating #climatechange than previously estimated. Can anyone explain why we are still putting them on our gardens? @michaelgove @CraigBennett3 @WildlifeTrusts @BBCFarmingToday.
Depressing to see that the only compost on sale in Tesco is peat-based. Can't we even take the smallest of steps to save our planet? @tesconews #GardenJungle
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Are we to blame for the heatwaves? is a Times headline. Can we stop posing attention-grabbers like this which allow people to doubt the very simple fact that all #heatwaves are made more frequent and worse because of emissions from humankind. Fact.
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A simple question: why do we allow monsters like this to block our city streets?
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One week to go before leaving BBC. Too busy to be scared yet. Did interview on radio four feedback prog on climate coverage. A friend said I sounded like BBC management. Just finished documentary on iPlayer called the art of cutting carbon. Very proud of it. Out next Wednesday.
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UK adopts world-leading 78% cut in emissions by 2035 AND includes intl #aviation and #shipping. A gauntlet to the @POTUS #climate summit on Thurs. But will @hmtreasury deliver the necessary policy/cash? @Revkin @GeorgeMonbiot @edmiliband @GretaThunberg.
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Climate change: Tax frequent fliers, get rid of SUVs, government told. Citizens assembly turns out radical. @GreenAllianceUK @BusinessGreen @Greenpeace @GeorgeMonbiot
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So @grantshapps thinks #windfarms that combat #climate change are an eyesore, but he supports a £27bn #roads programme. Have I got that wrong?.
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Has @MPGeorgeEustice been hoodwinked into thinking that British steel producers need coal from the proposed Cumbrian mine? I rang round the steelmakers. And they simply don’t need it. Most will be exported.
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Strong recommendation: watch #DontLookUp on Netflix. It's not a great film, but its depiction of political and media inaction is spot on. painfully so for those of us tangled up with it. @GeorgeMonbiot.
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What a bizarre and extraordinary claim. Matt Ridley says:.“If I waved a magic wand and gave the world unlimited clean and cheap energy tomorrow, I expect many climate scientists would be horrified”
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I’ve just said goodbye to my mother Sylvia. Wonderful woman. A great enabler for others. And a passionate Coventrian. We will miss her sorely.
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Brilliant expose of #Tuftonst dirty tricks by @DrSimEvans . Why does this discredited spin factory which crashed the UK economy with Liz Truss continue to command column inches? How a so-called thinktank got the cost of net zero for the UK wildly wrong
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Important roads story risks being over-shadowed by Met Office. Here it is: The government should use its current road-building budget to fill potholes instead, and work on squeezing demand for driving, the Commons Transport Committee says.
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Amazing #sunshine stats. UK spring average = 436 hours. Previous record = 555 hrs. 2020 = 613 hrs!!! Could hit 620 hrs when all stats are in. @metoffice Met Office says it’s extraordinary. @DrLizBentley says unprecedented and concerning. @ECIU_UK @carbonbrief @davidshukmanbbc.
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Six @XRebellionUK members found not guilty of damage to @shell office. Even though judge said they had no defence in law. Could prove a landmark decision - ordinary people accepted their case. @GretaThunberg.
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Letter in @TheTelegraph__ . SIR – Charles Moore says the BBC exaggerates climate change. I think it fails to convey the full magnitude of the threat. News organisations must find a way to inform their audiences about this defining threat. See my LinkedIn.
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Countdown: Leaving @BBC staff in two months after 36 years on the #environment beat. Looking forward to a freelance life of journalism, after-dinner speaking, chairing (see LinkedIn). My Carbon Family sculptures will be unveiled at end of July at @EdenProject roger@harrabin.com.
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North Sea oil and gas claims fact-checked. And yes, the government is wrong
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Road planners must effectively ignore #climatechange, says @grantshapps. Yet more contradictory policy. We won’t fix climate this way. @AAPresident @racfoundation @GeorgeMonbiot @Ed_Miliband @EmilyBeament
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#Plasticbag ban in Kenya means mangoes are sold in baskets like this. The shopkeeper says they preserve the fruit better anyway. And it creates more jobs. @WWF @EmeliaLisa @Greenpeace @oceanconserve @pewenvironment
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I just felt a flash of resentment when first a plane and then a car drowned out the beautiful birdsong in my back garden. Then I realised normally I don’t properly hear the birdsong at all.
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Govt offers £5000 Voucher to insulate your home. Poorest will get insulation free. Costs £2bn. Also £1bn for public buildings retrofit. A breakthrough. UK must tackle cold homes to hit emissions targets. cash to be spent in fin yr. huge jobs boost. @e3g @GeorgeMonbiot @ECIU_UK.
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Canada’s worst wildfires season by far - alarmjng GFX from @BBCNews. But no mention that #climatechange makes all wildfires more likely and more severe? Is that deliberate? @BBCJustinR @angusfoster @RichardBurgess
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Head of Royal Met Soc Liz Bentley tells me the swing from record wet to record sunshine in UK weather is "unprecedented" and "concerning" because it shows how much #climate is changing. .
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All party parliament group on climate change says over promising and under delivering is a hallmark of uk government.
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MAny leading scientists I know are terrified by what is happening…Much faster than they expected. But the debate at #COP28 has been constrained by reference to the #Ipcc’s necessarily dated analysis. We have set the bar too low, but the media doesn’t say so.
“A major conclusion of the last 20 years of climate science is that tipping points present greater risks at lower temperatures than was understood in 2001.”.
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Polite request. Let’s not get to 2050 and say, ‘Oops, it looks like Hansen was right all along’.
@Sir_David_King Whilst the analysis of Hansen et al is at the high end of the IPCC's climate sensitivity range, given the dire consequences if they're correct, it's this value that should guide the scale & timeline of mitigation. Yet rhetoric & lies remain the currency of most political leaders.
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Celebrating new ways of reducing CO2 - the art of cutting carbon. My farewell-to -BBC documentary. Do take a look. @James_BG @GeorgeMonbiot @DavidShukman @the_ecologist @eciu @CarbonBrief @DAaronovitch
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Spending review 'undermines UK green vision'. £29bn for roads - £3bn for low carbon. World leading it isn’t. @ECIU_UK @CarbonBrief
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We can’t stop #Climate-change unless we protect #soil, @IPBES report will say. @Revkin @GeorgeMonbiot @TonyJuniper @CraigBennett3 @NFUtweets @Minette_Batters @GreenAllianceUK @CranfieldUni @UniofReading @michaelgove.
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Rishi Sunak is now going to COP27 climate summit. Sensible decision. Why not send King Charles as well?
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How come the Supreme Court makes a ruling that will compromise still further the efforts made to rescue this fragile planet? You can trace it back to the fossil fuel firms who funded so-called think tanks to turn #climatechange into a partisan issue. Good job, guys.
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Kiss of death? #Heathrow was given all-clear to add a third runway in a 2015 review by Sir Howard Davies. Now he says expansion is not needed in current climate. Can someone do the sums for #HS2 as well? @HACAN1 @transenv @johnsauven @GeorgeMonbiot.
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There’s a severe Marine #heatwave off north east England – driven upwards by #CO2 emissions. Government response is to seek more oil and gas. Labour appears to be nervous of mentioning the C word For fear of Mail. What a state we are in. @BBCJustinR @ChiefExecCCC @Ed_Miliband.
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