It’s been called the ‘climate spring’– the very welcome, and very necessary, upswell of public concern and political attention on climate change. School strikes, the Extinction Rebellion protests, advocacy for a Green New Deal in the US, the Committee on Climate Change calling for a more stringent target, and the declaration of a ‘climate emergency’ by the UK Parliament, Wales, Scotland and many local areas: all this has come together to shift the politics of climate change up a gear. What next?

One idea that has attracted a lot of interest is the proposal for a Citizens’ Assembly on » Continue Reading.

Amid the drear of the Brexit endgame, as I trawl through my newsfeed my spirits have been lifted by the incredible goings-on over the pond.

A quick recap: the unstoppable new congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senator Ed Markey, and significant numbers of democrats including four presidential hopefuls, have put forward a resolution on a Green New Deal. The plan? To shift the US to zero-carbon through a far-reaching package of government support for investment and jobs, aiming for a transition that is socially just as well as environmentally responsible. It’s worth reading the plan itself– it’s short and » Continue Reading.

I can’t stop thinking about sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg, speaking with quiet determination to roomfuls of powerful people in Davos.

I think that Thunberg has an incredible gift. She summarises, with simplicity and eloquence, what climate scientists have been telling us for a long time – that climate change threatens our future on this planet; and that drastic cuts to emissions are needed, starting now.

Thunberg does not equivocate. She knows what she is saying is deeply uncomfortable to her audience, and she says it anyway. She speaks truth to power.

She can do this, in part, because she is powerless. » Continue Reading.

This year I’m working with the brilliant IGov team at Exeter’s Energy Policy Group, examining governance frameworks for energy. My inner geek is delighted. First task: a blog to explain how the complexities of energy policy get in the way of climate ambitions. Here it is…

The UK’s Climate Change Act sets an admirably simple, legally-binding framework for carbon reduction. The targets are clear. Yet the means to achieve them are opaque.

As the government considers strengthening the UK’s targets, and moving toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the IGov project has offered evidence to the Committee » Continue Reading.

Suddenly, it seems, I’m part of the establishment. Last weekend, the Sunday Times business pages announced the “death of the power dinosaurs”, arguing that the very existence of the big energy supply companies is now in doubt. The old model, where consumers simply bought units of electricity and gas and then paid the bill, is on its way out. As the Sunday Times put it, “Centrica is the new Kodak”. Instead, there are now opportunities for people to generate their own renewable heat and power; manage demand through smart meters; trade with their neighbours; charge electric vehicles; and store » Continue Reading.

I’m in a café in the House of Commons, talking to a newly-elected MP about climate change. He’s under no illusions about likely impacts. He points out that where we’re sitting, beside the River Thames, could be under water in decades to come. He calls climate change ‘catastrophic’, and looks for every opportunity he can to raise the issue.  But his commitment has come at a price: speaking out on climate is, he tells me, a ‘career-limiting move’.

It’s easy to get frustrated with politicians. We know the consequences of not acting on climate change. We know what needs to » Continue Reading.

As the need to cut carbon becomes more urgent, we are seeing more attention paid to technologies offering ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. At the risk of acronym overload, proposals include bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC). Most climate modelling which predicts how the goals of the Paris Agreement can be reached now includes these technologies, as this Nature paper explains. The UK’s Research Councils have just funded a set of projects exploring the feasibility of greenhouse gas removal technologies.

Sounds great – after all, we need to do » Continue Reading.

My first encounter with the New Economics Foundation was over twenty years ago. A nervous new graduate, I came for an interview to be NEF’s office manager. I’d never worked in an office, or managed anything, but I had long admired NEF, so I somehow blagged my way in. I had a great chat with them about the state of the world, but unsurprisingly, they chose someone who, er, knew how to manage an office. (Incidentally, on the subject of rejection, have a look at this brilliant blog by Nick Hopwood. It would do us all good to » Continue Reading.