Since I’m not a scientist, I thought I’d share this👇 for anyone considering following me. I'll also admit to being pretty chuffed with this feedback, particularly as Kevin was the straight-talking scientist who most inspired me to work on this full-time.
For those wanting to keep their finger on the pulse of the unfolding climate narrative/tragedy (with a strong UK focus),
@SiOldridge
is certainly worth following. More candid & quantitatively robust than many climate academics (particularly senior ones!).
As UK struggles with soaring energy prices and the threat of blackouts, fossil fuel lobbyists are working overtime to blame net zero. The truth is we're suffering from too little 'net zero'.
Aside from Ukraine, here are 8 real reasons, with graphics:🧵...
A superb explanation by
@GeorgeMonbiot
of why non-violent direct action is not only an essential component of a healthy democracy, but why our future depends on it. 👏👏👏
Shocked at the lack of coverage of this weekend's climate protest in the Sunday papers.
Here's XR & allies trying to focus the seat of power & avoid public disruption: huge numbers of ordinary people packed into central London crying out for real action - and media ignore us.
This is quite shocking. Emissions projections out yesterday show the UK will:
🔴Overshoot our 2030 Paris agreement emissions commitment by 40%
🔴Blow our 6th carbon budget by a huge 100%
The UK needs an overarching strategy to keep to 1.5°C: Climate & Ecology Bill
#CEBill
.
The Conservative Gov killed off a major program to insulate the UK's appallingly inefficient homes, and despite the Ukraine crisis, has done almost nothing to save wasted energy—the cheapest, fastest way to cut emissions.
UK homes lose heat 3X faster than German homes.
🧵1/4
Scientists are clear there must be NO new fossil fuels to avoid the catastrophic consequences of exceeding 1.5°C.
But the Government is issuing over 100 new oil & gas licences, approving a new coal mine, and admits we'll miss key climate targets by a mile.
How can
#bbclaurak
do a special on
#netzero
without bothering to research the basics and then totally failing to call out disinformation? A quick 🧵rebutting some of the worst of it....
If I was director of a financial institution, I’d pay VERY close attention to this article
Models used to assess climate risk found unfit for purpose - ignoring key impacts: sea level rise, extreme weather, mass migration!!
Future class action alert.
🧵1/4
I urge all climate scientists and politicians to read this article by
@jonathonporritt
Quoting his summary points:
1️⃣"The speed with which the climate is now changing is faster than (almost) all scientists thought possible."
🧵1/6
It is extraordinary that this isn’t headlining on all media. Ocean temperatures soaring above 1982-2022 records. Once the 💩 really hits the fan, people will want to know why.
I’m sickened by this. These principled campaigners are now political prisoners.
How can a science-denying judge, who barred the defendants from explaining their motivations, be permitted to sit in court?
This conviction should be quashed.
Free speech is dead in the British courtroom.
Our lawyer just told Judge Hehir "The world is watching".
He didn’t like it and interrupted.
Apparently that’s too “like a political speech" and “doesn’t do us any favours”.
First science is banned.
Then politics.
What’s next?
@ClaireCoutinho
No - you're blocking the transition by supporting the fossil fuel industry, and allowing other countries like China to get ahead of us in the green revolution.
You are enriching the international oil companies whilst making British people poorer.
Why is this man permitted to push Big Oil propaganda on the BBC, putting at risk the action needed to preserve our civilisation? The QT format doesn't give time for this to be called out.
So here's the fact-checking the BBC should do:🧵...
Dear mainstream media. Abetted by your silence, humanity has knocked our climate out of the safe, stable balance it's rested in for over 10,000 years.
Stop pretending impacts are distant. Millions are suffering. Stop distracting with trivia. This needs round-the-clock coverage.
4. UK Govt killed the solar market by prematurely removing subsidies, causing mass lay-offs, and destroying strong exponential growth in an incredibly cheap, clean form of energy.
Incredibly powerful words from
@DrEmilyGrossman
on why scientists are being forced to take direct action to be heard.
For anyone who still needs persuading that the media and our Government still haven't grasped the gravity of the climate & nature crisis
The UK Gov's blocking of the action needed to avoid climate catastrophe should be the biggest domestic news story. But much of our press is owned by complicit billionaires, and the BBC has been muzzled. 🧵
As a keen mathematician, you’d think
@RishiSunak
would understand that it’s the path we take to Net Zero that matters:
#AreaUnderCurve
Delaying key milestones really matters - even if we stick with 2050.
This might help refresh his memory👇
3. Liz Truss oversaw the closure of 70%(!) of the UK's gas storage in 2017, leaving the UK with just 9 days of strategic gas reserves. Similar European countries have around 100 days.
The Rough storage field has now reopened but at only 20% capacity.
Shocking short-termism.
4/ The UK Gov is compounding the problem. It gives oil companies a tax rebate of £914,000 for every £1 million they invest - but *only* for new oil and gas projects, not for new renewables. Yes you read that right😮 Using our tax money to fund destruction.
Such dishonesty from Sunak speaking live now. Scientists say we're heading towards economic collapse, food shortages, and up to 1.2 billion migrants fleeing drought and starvation.
He's creating a false dichotomy by saying that he's not going to force people to buy expensive
This is serious folks. 🚨Food shortages🚨
1️⃣The UK uses 70% of its own land ✚ roughly its own land area overseas to feed its population.
2️⃣Climate change is hitting output already, both at home and abroad, and it'll worsen.
3️⃣You can feed 4 times as many people per hectare on a
“The UK faces food shortages and price rises as extreme weather linked to climate breakdown causes low yields on farms locally and abroad.”
Meanwhile our Gov pushes ahead with new oil and ignores science warnings that we must reduce animal agriculture.
If you're thinking, but we can't just depend on renewables, that's old news. The latest science says we can. This landmark study shows 100% renewables will save us >60% on energy costs AND will pay back in just 6 years. There are many other studies.
This is an absolute disgrace. As UN head
@antonioguterres
said, "the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels."
Shame on our Government for ignoring the science.
Two years ago, Sir Patrick Valance briefed MPs & Lords on the climate crisis. Incredibly, fewer than 5% attended😲
It’s time to repeat it, with attendance obligatory. Here are 3 ideas to make it better: 🧵1/4
6. The obvious thing to do when prices go up is to avoid waste. But Cameron proudly 'Cut the Green Crap' in 2013, only benefiting oil companies & Putin.
If insulation rates had continued at a similar pace, around 18 million homes would now be way cheaper to heat.
8. UK tax on North Sea fossil fuels is tiny compared to countries like Norway, removing the incentive to re-invest. We need very high taxes, with tax rebates for investment in renewables only (not more fossil fuels) - forcing FF companies to transition.
The UK's Net Zero Strategy plans for 'up to 29 MtCO2' to be removed annually by Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage (DACCS) by 2050.
That means building 5 times the capacity of the world's only existing plant in Iceland every week from now to 2050. But worse than that: 🧵1/
I urge everyone to read this comprehensive warning from leading climate scientists about the grave dangers we face by failing to tackle climate change.
A thread quoting key points: 🧵
Imagine how much better off we'd be now if Gov had encouraged the exponential renewables growth seen in the early 2010s to continue. Renewables are far far cheaper to produce than electricity from gas power plants.
We have the solutions to the climate crisis. Govts just need to follow the science.
Amazing study from
@mzjacobson
et al shows grids can support 100% renewables without nasties like BECCS. We'll cut energy costs by 63% and it'll pay back in just 6 years💥
2/ Why don't oil companies invest in renewables when they're so cheap?
Answer: you can make huge profits by controlling super scarce fossil fuels with huge technical barriers to entry, backed by lobbying. You cannot from abundant wind, water and solar.
Incredible piece of work by
@DeSmog
exposing the malign influence of the fossil fuel industry and wealthy donors over our politics - thanks to a Conservative Party for sale.
Here are the real 'enemies of the people' - and of all of nature.
@GeorgeMonbiot
My article with
@Kevinclimate
on why the new UK
#hydrogen
strategy is scam designed to prop up North Sea gas, under the pretence of climate action.
It'll impose a huge cost on UK taxpayers and lock us into a high emissions pathway. Key points 🧵📣
No-one wants to see birds killed, but let’s put wind turbines in context👇
And this doesn’t show the impact on birds of extreme heat & droughts caused by burning fossil fuels.
Onshore wind is the cheapest form of clean energy but it remains effectively banned in UK.
The UK Gov pays fossil fuel companies a £914,000 tax rebate for every £1 million they invest - but only for new oil and gas projects, not for new renewables. Yes you read that right..!
A short🧵
The beautiful River Dart is sick. People here are getting ill - and what impact on nature?
This vandalism must stop.
To save our rivers, vote for politicians who support the
#CEBill
to protect *and reverse* the damage to nature.
5. Despite overwhelming public support for onshore wind, there is still an effective ban on this cheapest, fastest-to-install form of renewable energy.
2. The UK is rightly phasing out coal power which takes a terrible toll on nature and human health. And our ageing nuclear power stations are being closed. But Government hasn’t acted to replace this lost capacity. Too busy with Brexit?
This is what geological-scale sea level rise looks like: Glasgow’s
#COP26
venue with water back where it was the last time CO2 was this high. One of many reasons why we need a rapid phase out of fossil fuels at
#COP28
So now Sunak's saying we're world leading with a 68% emissions reduction target. Does he really not know that UK has offshored more manufacturing than almost any other country? So whilst our territorial emissions are down 48%, our total footprint is down by <1% per year.
Does
Why the path we take to
#NetZero
matters a whole lot more than the year we get there. Keeping to our share of the global carbon budget for 1.5°C (or even close) means actually cutting emissions rapidly now. 🧵1/3
From
@cebill_now
7. Meanwhile, Government has allowed gas-guzzling SUV sales to soar - using more energy & taking up more space. Why? The market knows best? It's good for growth, screw the climate?
7/ Key Conservatives are working tirelessly to dishonestly paint
@JustStopOil
as making radical demands, when all they’re asking for is that we follow the advice of the Government’s advisers
@theCCCuk
and the world’s science advisers,
@IPCC_CH
.
1️⃣Preposterous science denier
@LukeJohnsonRCP
says
#netzero
will make ordinary people poorer & colder. Yet study after study shows renewables can supply all our energy needs and deliver huge savings, with a rapid payback
#bbclaurak
Can 100% renewables really work? What about night & windless winter days?
The answer’s YES based on numerous independent studies.
It will deliver huge £ savings, help clean our air - and end dependence on oil dictators & profiteering oil companies. 🧵1/
The new UK
#hydrogen
strategy looks like an exercise in providing ongoing revenue to North Sea operators under the pretence of climate action. It'll impose a huge cost on UK taxpayers and lock us into a high emissions pathway.
Here's why. A short 🧵...
What about intermittency? The latest science shows this challenge can be overcome by using diverse sources (wind, solar, tidal, wave, hydro, geothermal), with countries grouped into blocs (eg all Europe), time-shifting of demand, and storage with pumped hydro, batteries etc.
Why isn't this top of every news bulletin?
Almost a coin-flip chance of the
#AMOC
ocean current collapsing in the 2030s, taking European agriculture with it.
Without the heat
#AMOC
brings from the tropics, UK would be as icy cold as Labrador in Canada.
Just attending a 3-day workshop on the danger of abrupt ocean circulation changes. Discussions are quite worrying. E.g. in 35 to 45 % of high quality models, convection in the open North Atlantic collapses in the 2030s due to
#globalheating
. -> Major climate disruption. ☹️
@DaleVince
It’s vital now that the Conservatives are defeated resoundingly, with a strong mandate for climate action.
The model will help deliver that. We’re sharing it for free with other safe Tory seats. Sign up for a workshop mid-Aug.
@GaryLineker
Great to see Gary sharing this message that the billionaire press barons don't want the public to hear - because it means them sharing some of their vast wealth to help pay for the transition to clean energy, and curtailing their high-carbon lifestyles.
The UK Gov gives fossil fuel companies £914,000 in tax relief from the windfall tax for every £1 million they invest - but only for new oil and gas projects, not for new renewables. Yes you read that right..!
A short🧵
@JonathanPieNews
I stand with
@JonathanPieNews
Worth also highlighting that an analysis by the
@FT
finds the UK Conservative Party to be the most *far right* economically in the world.
3/ Fossil companies are investing over 20 times more in new oil and gas than in 'clean' power. And it's worse than that because 'clean' includes fake solutions like carbon capture & blue hydrogen.
Renewables made up <5% of upstream spending in 2022:
As the oil-backed right wing press bangs on about ULEZ, let’s remember what happened when Cameron’s Gov ‘cut the green crap’. Imagine if that amazing exponential curve in cheap clean renewables hadn’t been throttled? How self-sufficient and free of oil dictators we could’ve been.
2️⃣Net zero secretary
@ClaireCoutinho
, linked to shady oil-funded Policy Exchange lobby group, says people don't want 'costs heaped on them'.
Classic misdirection.
Transition to renewables is necessary for national security, and the alternative is a MUCH higher cost to the
6️⃣How much of this is happening because the BBC is increasingly under the political control of the Conservative Party, which in turn is "in the pocket of the fossil fuel companies"
9/ The problem is that today's ever more extremist 'Conservatives' are now funded by, and acting for big oil. They tell us the 'market knows best', whilst using state power & *our* tax money to give fossil fuels a huge economic edge over renewables.
Once we include the goods we import and international ✈️ & ⛴️, UK has only cut its carbon footprint by 23% since 1990. That’s less than 1% a year. Fiddling whilst Rome burns. But these figures are not complete: 🧵/5
Good to chat with my MP
@AnthonyMangnal1
at last night's sewage meeting. Anthony offered this in defence of the Gov's climate record:
1/ UK's better than others in Europe & could I name a single country with more wind power. I said it's not a competition, but anyway👇
A quick🧵
A brilliant, visual explanation of the severe and imminent danger we face from shutdown of the
#AMOC
ocean current which keeps the UK from being as freezing as Labrador in Canada.
**UK media - this needs urgent attention**
@RHarrabin
Anyone who's bought a new home since 2016 should know that if it wasn't for this corruption, their home would have been zero carbon and probably virtually free to keep warm.
When it comes to screwing us over, the housebuilders have form.
The 2007 Code for Sustainable Homes required ALL new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. After lobbying the Conservatives scrapped it, leaving new homeowners with huge heating bills.
8/ Gov should force oil cos to change, but are doing the exact opposite. They should:
✅Ban *new* fossil fuels in line with the science
✅Apply major tax ⏫ on fossil profits, but rebate it back for renewables investment. Direct big oil to use its tech capability for good.
@grantshapps
@Keir_Starmer
Shame on you. Labour are simply following the clear advice of all leading science institutions including your OWN advisers
@theCCC
.
What's more you're ignoring the science which tells us that 100% renewables is fast, feasible & will save $trillions.
2/ The Conservatives cancelled the Code for Sustainable Homes which would've required all new homes to be zero carbon (and super-cheap to heat) by 2016. They did this in response to lobbying from Persimmon Homes, a major donor to their party.
The UK Gov's decision to green-light the
#CarbonCapture
project at
#Drax
biomass power station is very bad news for the climate & means higher ⚡️ bills. Drax should be phased out instead. Here's the evidence
@ClaireCoutinho
ignored👇🧵
10/ Instead of acting to protect its citizens and the biosphere on which we depend for life, it's so clear now that the Conservative Government is jumping to the tune of powerful lobbyists & wealthy donors.
That's why I'm campaigning for political change.
4️⃣Dishonest
@ClaireCoutinho
celebrates UK nearing a 50% cut in territorial emissions. But that's in large part due to the UK offshoring more manufacturing than almost any other nation, and switching to a service economy. Once we include the emissions from our imports, and
.
@ZoeatShine
handles Sky’s deeply irresponsible platforming of a ludicrous climate denier masterfully.
And like Zoe says, it’s wrong of
@KayBurley
to present this as a debate. It isn’t. Suggesting it is helps feed denial which threatens all of us.
When it comes to screwing us over, the housebuilders have form.
The 2007 Code for Sustainable Homes required ALL new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. After lobbying the Conservatives scrapped it, leaving new homeowners with huge heating bills.
Tories are going to pollute our rivers even more, Only 14% declared "good" ecologically now Michael Gove!
AND confirmed they'll force taxpayers to pay £140m bill for pollution caused by developers
We're PAYING for more pollution!
Loathsome DREGS of a govt
5️⃣
@LukeJohnsonRCP
says that "hysterical doomsayers like
@AlGore
have been predicting the end of world for a decade". The truth is that climate models have been surprisingly accurate.
15,000 climate scientists have issued a dire warning that we're heading towards societal &
5/ Gov has now also collapsed the price of carbon credits in the UK ETS scheme by flooding the market with free permits. That gives fossil fuels an advantage over renewables & penalises companies which are trying to decarbonise.
UK Gov sets the price of carbon via the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. The aim was to gradually ratchet up the cost to pollute by reducing the number of free credits issued.
Instead, they’ve handed out more free credits, pushing the price even lower.
🧵1/3
The UK Gov's blocking of the action needed to avoid climate catastrophe should be the biggest domestic news story. But much of our press is owned by complicit billionaires, and the BBC has been muzzled. 🧵
Al Gore says: “UK Gov is in the pocket of the fossil fuel companies”. My research for this article👇 left me shocked at just how brazen that capture is—too much so to be mere negligence.
We need a criminal investigation into this huge crime against the UK public & the 🌍.
My article with
@Kevinclimate
on why the new UK
#hydrogen
strategy is scam designed to prop up North Sea gas, under the pretence of climate action.
It'll impose a huge cost on UK taxpayers and lock us into a high emissions pathway. Key points 🧵📣
3️⃣"At the same time, the vast majority of people still haven’t a clue about what’s going on – and what this means for them and everything they hold dear. "
This is how I see the corrupt circle of denial...
Today’s climate u-turn comes only weeks after the appointment of new Net Zero minister
@clairecoutinho
, linked to the shady Policy Exchange, reported to take funding from oil companies like Exxon.
11/ It's not like there isn't an alternative. Science shows that a shift to clean power won't just help tackle the famine & extreme weather caused by global heating, it will actually give huge £ savings & cut the 36,000 deaths a year from polluted air.
2/ A major study looked at 3 years of grid data for 145 countries. They demonstrated:
✅100% renewables is feasible
✅63% saving on total energy costs
✅Large upfront investment, but the savings are so big, it could pay back in under 7 years.
I should also mention
@CREDS_UK
who've mapped out a pathway to save over 50% of our current energy use whilst actually making life better. Yet Gov is doing almost nothing to insulate our leaky housing stock or reduce traffic by supporting public transport.
New study shows the risks of simultaneous crop failure across 🌍breadbasket regions is higher than thought. That means actually not having enough to eat.
With the UK so reliant on imported food, and now at the end of the queue thanks to Brexit, its
A 🧵on why UK emissions targets are far from sufficient for 1.5°C, or anything close. The media is focused on the Delivery Gap, but we really need to talk about the
#AmbitionGap
whilst there's still time to close it. 1/
How do people who’ve sucked up the relentless fossil fuel propaganda process this?
UK weather-related damage claims were £573 million last year—highest on record and 36% greater than 2022.
I've done all I can to persuade my MP to support science-led action on climate & nature, but to no avail. We can't afford another term of inaction.
So I've cofounded to help gather voters behind the best opposition candidate for the next general election.
More evidence that the
#AMOC
ocean current may collapse in a few decades, leaving UK as cold as frozen Labrador in northern Canada.
Agricultural output would plummet = starvation.
Emergency action could save us.
This should be top of the news & given urgent parliamentary time.
“Here we provide statistical significance and data-driven estimators for the time of tipping. We estimate a collapse of the AMOC to occur around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions.”
13/end Permitting new fossil investment is utter insanity. It's reckless and destructive beyond belief when we already have a viable, superior, cheaper, faster, healthier alternative.
We *must* wrest control back from these extremists before it's too late.
@DaleVince
It’s vital now that the Conservatives are defeated resoundingly, with a strong mandate for climate action.
The model will help deliver that. We’re sharing it for free with other safe Tory seats. Sign up for a workshop mid-Aug.
The Net Zero Scrutiny Group can shut up shop. UK's expert adviser on climate change
@theCCCuk
now predicts the cost of net zero to be negative. It will actually save money.
Oh, as well as averting civilisation collapse and stopping funding Putin & co.
My Conservative MP
@AnthonyMangnal1
's deeply misleading article in which he claims that Sunak's speech 'establishes the UK as a global leader in environmental stewardship'. He must think we're complete idiots.
A rebuttal: 🧵
Hi
@mrjamesob
. I admire you enormously, but I think you got it wrong today on
@JustStop_Oil
Very persuasive arguments that Stonehenge shouldn't've been targeted. But no information on why people are so worried, other than... 'climate change'.
Why 50 minutes on Stonehenge and