“Beef is like a loaded gun, pointed at the living world.” So began George Monbiot’s response to the publication of the IPCC’s report on land use, which cited dietary change alongside 28 other interventions that could end the roughly one third of total greenhouse gas emissions that come from the food system. Read more
This post first appeared on BusinessGreen.
At 11am, on 14 July 2017, eight per cent of UK’s total electricity demand was generated by offshore wind, more than any other country in the world. Proactive policy and industrial innovation have crafted the UK’s success story on offshore wind but another significant part of the story has been the lending from the European Investment Bank (EIB) that has accelerated the sector’s growth. Roughly £2.6 billion has been invested in wind farms and transmission networks since 2012, part of an overall £8 billion investment in energy infrastructure in the UK. As we leave the EU, cheap EIB loans will not flow as easily, raising concerns about the future growth of our renewable energy industry. It is, therefore, critical that we negotiate to be a major shareholder and benefactor of the EIB and the other European investment bodies that support innovation and growth in low carbon technology. Read more
This post is by Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng, chair of the Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub-Committee. It is written in a personal capacity.
We are approaching a climate change tipping point, one that I am eagerly awaiting. With all of the political changes going on in the UK and around the world, I just hope this one doesn’t get delayed. Read more
Under its new industrial strategy, the government has committed £4.7 billion for science and innovation until 2020 and has announced the creation of a new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This will be modelled on the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA. For seasoned innovation thinkers, this is very good news. But what’s so exciting about DARPA? Read more
Forget the cuts to the RHI. Ignore halving ECO. The biggest change to the UK’s energy strategy didn’t appear in yesterday’s autumn statement. Instead, a two line note snuck out an hour or so after George Osborne finished his speech confirmed that carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the UK is effectively dead. Read more
Last Friday we published the first three proposals in a new series in which we’ve asked leading thinkers, from politics, business and green groups, to set out their one big manifesto idea for the next parliament – the one they think will make a big impact in creating a greener Britain.
Today’s three ideas come from Chris Huhne, the Aldersgate Group and, in a joint proposal, the Robertsbridge Group and Greenpeace UK. Read more
This post is by Rolake Akinkugbe, energy specialist and head of energy and natural resources coverage at FBN Capital, Lagos Nigeria.
Africa’s energy landscape is as complex as it is amusing. One of the most oil and gas rich continents in the world also happens to have one of the largest concentrations of petroleum importers in the world. On average up to 70 per cent of Africa’s energy consumption is imported, mostly in the form of refined products. Read more
Last week, on Radio 4’s Today programme, I was asked to critique the well known and controversial environmental commentator, Bjørn Lomborg. According to his theory, we should all do as Japan has recently done, and give up on greenhouse gas reduction targets and, instead, invest heavily in low carbon R&D. Doing so would be much cheaper, he argues, and would have a greater global impact as it would make low carbon technology so affordable it would naturally displace fossil fuel alternatives. Read more
This post first appeared on BusinessGreen.
For three years business leaders and civil society have led the drive to decarbonise our economy. Politicians have remained almost silent. But this silence may be about to end.
Earlier this month, Ed Balls became the first big political figure to make a headline speech about climate change since the last general election. Though he has been exploring the barriers to low carbon investment behind closed doors for some time, many had come to presume it just wasn’t of interest to a politician at his level. But they were wrong. Why? Read more
This post first appeared on BusinessGreen.
Industrial strategy hasn’t been fashionable for a long time. Anyone romantic enough to have spent February 14th watching Harold Wilson Night on BBC Parliament will have seen the last moment when industrial strategy took the limelight. This was a moment when ministers decided which industries to help and which to leave to squalor, over a hearty dinner at the CBI – a time when growth was determined purely by how many motorways, airports and gas stations we could cram into our small island. It didn’t end well. In fact, it kicked off the unbalancing tendency of our economy to be carried by consumption over investment which we still haven’t shaken. Read more
Inside track 