07 Jan 2020

A familiar refrain as we enter a new year/decade is that several climate records were broken in the previous one. The latest set of climate data from the Met Office has been widely reported, including by the BBC, with the main points being The decade just ended was the second hottest in the past 100 […]

01 Oct 2019

As party conference season ends, Conservative plans for achieving their net-zero pledge to end carbon emissions by 2050 have been roundly criticised. They include a promise of a plant to deliver zero-carbon energy from nuclear fusion by 2040 – even though most experts believe achieving the dream is still 30 years away, as well as […]

01 Oct 2019

Last week’s global climate strikes and a passionate speech from Greta Thunberg at the UN climate summit in New York could have spurred nations into action. Instead, despite warnings from the scientific community that the impact of global heating is set to intensify, the climate summit failed to secure anything more than incremental promises. Of […]

29 Sep 2019

Global warming has already reached 1°C above the pre-industrial level, due to past and current greenhouse gas emissions. There is overwhelming evidence that this is resulting in profound consequences for ecosystems and people. The ocean is warmer, more acidic and less productive. Melting glaciers and ice sheets are causing sea level rise, and coastal extreme […]

21 Sep 2019

In her hard-hitting speeches to the UN Climate Change summit and the US Congress, climate activist Greta Thunberg criticises “feel-good” stories about how we are going to fix everything and to “face the reality, the facts, the science”.  Quoting from last years IPCC report she gave some stark warnings about the today’s emissions levels and […]

17 Sep 2019

Scotland has secured a major coup by partnering with Italy to host the UN 26th Conference of the Parties, known as COP26. The conference aim will be to produce an international response to the climate emergency. Read the BBC’s coverage here and the government’s response, fronted by our fantastic Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab here. Raab, […]

17 Sep 2019

The Global Commission on Adaptation has published a report ‘Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience’. The key messages of the report include: Investing $1.8 trillion globally in five areas from 2020 to 2030 could generate £7.1 trillion in total net benefits. Adaptation actions bring multiple benefits, called the triple dividend – […]