Simon Evans / is on Nostr

Press Gazette energy & environment journalist of the year 2022

Deputy Editor + Senior Policy Editor
@CarbonBrief

simon.evans@carbonbrief.org

Last Notes

2025-05-17 07:35:56

Shocking stats in today's FT: "England faces driest year this century."
April rainfall more than 50% below average across most of the country…
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/114/522/020/661/632/507/original/e2626b00d654e680.jpeg

2025-03-27 13:00:56

NEW: Govt data CONFIRMS our estimate that UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 4% to 371MtCO2e in 2024
As we said earlier this month, this took UK emissions to lowest level since 1872 – with coal use at its lowest since 1666 (!)
Our analysis: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-emissions-fall-3-6-in-2024-as-coal-use-drops-to-lowest-since-1666/
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/114/234/520/781/467/194/original/704f3ffa579bb4e6.jpeg

2025-03-20 21:26:08

THREAD: How the Sun screwed up its "smoking gun" story on net-zero study
The Sun: "As much as 10% wld be wiped off economic growth by end of decade"
Source: "At no point does this study suggest there will be a drop in UK GDP. It talks abt a 10% transfer…within GDP"
Oops!
1/10
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2025-03-19 12:50:15

It's gas that is making UK electricity expensive.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-why-conservative-leader-kemi-badenoch-is-wrong-about-uks-net-zero-goal/
1/2
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2025-03-12 12:26:45

📢ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 3.6% in 2024 to lowest since 1872
🏭Coal lowest since 1666, when Great Fire ravaged London
🚗EVs pushed oil down despite more traffic, saving £1.7bn
🌇Gas down on "cleanest ever" power
📈📉Since 1990, CO2 -54% / GDP +84%
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-emissions-fall-3-6-in-2024-as-coal-use-drops-to-lowest-since-1666/
1/9
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2025-01-02 09:01:47

+++NEW ANALYSIS+++
UK electricity was the cleanest ever in 2024, with emissions per unit falling by more than two-thirds in a decade
Highlights:
🏭end of coal power after 142yrs
🔥fossil fuels at record-low 29% share
🌄renewables at record-high 45%
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-electricity-was-cleanest-ever-in-2024
1/9
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2025-01-02 09:01:47

2024-12-16 11:33:41

But EV sALes are StaLLiNg – global edition
+25% in Jan-Nov 2024
+32% in Nov 2024
(Data/chart from Rho Motion)
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/662/284/307/619/132/original/6630d814ce793a7f.png

2024-12-09 16:02:36

How to understand China's commitment to climate action & energy transition, in one short paragraph:
🛢️If you have the world's biggest fossil fuel import bill…
🔋⚡️🌄…and can cut net costs 70% by 2035
🧧Why would you turn back?
(IEA Energy Technology Perspectives 2024)
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/623/705/608/933/080/original/225d7232ffc17698.png

2024-12-09 10:32:03

Ooft, this FT climate graphic of the week
"First ice-free day in the Arctic Ocean may come before 2030, study shows"
https://www.ft.com/content/63fbcf2b-9acc-4ccb-ac12-9f3b78e85b68
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/622/405/839/364/909/original/ee09ad2955281a17.jpeg

2024-11-25 16:26:01

Wowsers, did you know plastic causes 3x the greenhouse gas emissions of aviation?
My colleagues Verner and Ayesha have that – and a bunch of other eye-popping charts – on why the UN plastics treaty being negotiated at #INC5 this week really does matter for climate change
https://www.carbonbrief.org/five-charts-why-a-un-plastics-treaty-matters-for-climate-change/
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/544/525/355/881/051/original/55d68d78ccf5741c.jpeg

2024-11-22 14:09:32

NEW TEXT at #COP29 confirms we won't get a decision on who hosts COP31 in 2026 until June next year, at the earliest
Seems neither Australia nor Turkey are willing to step back from their bids
https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-tracking-negotiating-texts-at-the-cop29-climate-summit/
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2024-11-22 11:08:38

NEW TEXTS DROPPED AT #COP29
* NCQG: Draft finance target of $250bn
* UAE dialogue: clear ref to GST para 28
* UAE dialogue: Options on taking GST fwd
* MWP: GST remains absent
https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-tracking-negotiating-texts-at-the-cop29-climate-summit/
1/3
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2024-11-21 09:33:16

#COP29 plenary
EU "very much concerned" on mitigation text "we need a much stronger language on the concrete follow up to GST"
"[Climate extremes] in Africa, the Americas, our friends in the Caribbean & the Pacific…shows we need to do more, not less, than the UAE consensus on mitigation"
1/11
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2024-11-14 04:16:06

A beached whale lies dead on the waterfront in #COP29 host city Baku, against the backdrop of the "Flame Towers" that symbolise Azerbaijan's fossil fuel resources
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/479/369/725/430/975/original/5b07b4a0975dd062.jpeg

2024-11-13 19:35:31

#COP29 NEW TEXT
There's a new "informal note" on the UAE dialogue, which was the subject of the big "agenda fight" on Monday
It's a series of bullets, rather than a full draft text, and despite packing in 42 opposing "options", it is "not exhaustive"
https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-tracking-negotiating-texts-at-the-cop29-climate-summit/
1/5
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2024-10-30 11:01:21

Incredible stat:
A single container ship of solar panels can provide as much electricity as more than 50 large LNG tankers of gas – or 100 large coal ships
There's many more insights in IEA Energy Technology Perspectives 2024 – here's a selection 🧵
1/7
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2024-10-26 07:47:33

NEW: UK's next Paris climate pledge should promise 81% emissions cut by 2035, says CCC
This is "consistent with" (ie the same as) the ambition legislated by prev Conservative govt:
78% with intl aviation & shipping
🟰81% without
https://www.carbonbrief.org/ccc-uks-next-paris-pledge-should-commit-to-81-emissions-cut-by-2035/
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/372/617/287/715/604/original/a0bbaceb0edfadbf.jpeg