Climate Change

Tree-planting rates in England will treble within a few years to tackle the climate and nature crises, the Government will pledge this week. At present 2,340 hectares (5,800 acres) are planted each year, but the Government says this will grow to 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) annually by the end of this Parliament (May 2024). The England Trees Action Plan will be launched on Tuesday and is expected to set out how woodland cover will be increased with tree planting, focusing on broadleaf native trees, as well as processes such as natural regeneration, where trees grow back naturally on the land. However, campaigners have warned the goal for England is less than a quarter of the Government’s UK-wide target to plant 30,000 hectares a year (75,000 acres) by 2024 and fails to rise to meet the nature and climate crises. The low target has also raised questions about how much of the overall 30,000 hectares goal will need to be met by non-native commercial conifer plantations in Scotland, which campaigners say do not deliver benefits for wildlife or the public.

iNews 16th May 2021 read more »

Independent 16th May 2021 read more »

Why the BBC’s Climate Assembly documentary is a must-watch for business leaders and policymakers of all stripes. The BBC’s The People vs Climate Change documentary offers a compelling case for giving the public a voice in tackling the greatest challenge of our times.

Business Green 17th May 2021 read more »

President Biden’s climate change envoy, John Kerry has said that Pope Francis intends to come to Glasgow for Cop26. Kerry said that the Pope intends to come to Glasgow to address world leaders on climate change at the summit which takes place in Glasgow from November 1 – November 12.

Herald 16th May 2021 read more »

Pope Francis looks increasingly likely to visit Glasgow this year to build support for joint action on climate change in what would be the second papal visit to Scotland in just over a decade. After a private audience with the Pope, special US presidential envoy John Kerry said he believed that the pontiff would take part in November’s Cop26 climate conference in the city. Doubts remain, however, over the extent to which world leaders will travel to Glasgow for the talks amid speculation that Covid might force them to be postponed or be conducted remotely.

Times 16th May 2021 read more »

COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma marked less than six months to go until the climate change summit this November, as Government Ministers travelled across the country to see how the UK is greening all parts of society. COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma marked less than six months to go until the climate change summit this November at Whitelee Windfarm in Glasgow, as Government Ministers travelled across the country to see how the UK is greening all parts of society. In his speech, Mr Sharma set out the four goals the UK as hosts will be focusing on in the run up to the summit – securing global net zero, protecting communities and natural habitats from the impacts of climate change, mobilising finance and working together to accelerate action.

Cabinet Office 14th May 2021 read more »

COP26 president Alok Sharma’s choice of the giant Whitelee Wind Farm as backdrop to his “six months to go” rallying call ahead of the crucial UN climate summit might be the nearest thing the UK onshore wind industry gets to an apology. In an irony that will not be lost on Britain’s renewable energy sector, Sharma’s call to “consign coal to history” has uncomfortable echoes of his Conservative Party’s rhetoric on onshore wind power not all that long ago. From 2015, when it won an election on a manifesto that promised to “halt the spread” of subsidised wind on land, the Conservatives waged a five-year campaign against the UK onshore sector and, to a lesser extent, solar PV. Taking aim at the wind industry was back then a useful drum to bang for the Conservatives at their core voters in the English shires, where climate scepticism was stoked by a media keen to talk up the cost of what it regarded as little more than a hippy racket against the honest taxpayer.

Recharge 14th May 2021 read more »

World must immediately ‘abandon coal’ and scrap new petrol cars by 2040 if it is to meet climate goals, UK says. Speaking from an onshore wind farm in Glasgow, Alok Sharma set out an ambitious vision for how the world can get to grips with the climate crisis.

Independent 14th May 2021 read more »

The UK government is considering how to use Covid-19 vaccines and testing to try to ensure vital UN climate talks this year go ahead in person, rather than as an online event. Alok Sharma, a former UK business secretary and now president-designate of Cop26, the climate summit to be held in Glasgow this November, said: “I have always been very clear that this should be the most inclusive Cop ever. I have been travelling around the world and it is very clear to me that people want to see a physical Cop, in particular developing countries want this to be face to face.”

Guardian 14th May 2021 read more »

iNews 14th May 2021 read more »

Britain will urge the rest of the world to end sales of new petrol cars by 2040 as part of the Cop26 international climate summit, its president has said. Alok Sharma said the summit should also herald the end of coal power, deforestation, and tackle methane emissions to meet the aims of limiting warming under the Paris Agreement. “If we are serious about 1.5 degrees, Glasgow must be the Cop that consigns coal power to history, the Cop that signals the end to polluting vehicles,” Mr Sharma said in a speech outside the Whitelee wind farm in Glasgow on Friday, where the UN conference will be held in six months. “We are calling on countries to commit to all new cars being zero emission by 2040, or earlier.” Britain has already committed to phasing out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and the most polluting hybrid cars by 2035. It is among the most ambitious commitments from around 14 countries, trailing only a 2025 deadline from Norway.

Telegraph 14th Mat 2021 read more »

Sea level rise threatens low lying islands like the Maldives – it isn’t enough to simply adapt to the change. Over 80 per cent of the Maldives’ 1,000 plus islands are less than 1 metre above sea level. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that the seas will rise by up to 1.1 metres by the year 2100, meaning that the very existence of these islands is threatened. Rising sea-level also interacts with other climate factors, such as more intense storms, leading to eroding coastlines, reduced fresh water supply, and loss of habitats. The inhabitants of the Maldives are of course acutely aware of this risk, with ex-President Mohammed Waheed Hassan stating “we are one of the most vulnerable countries on earth”.

Independent 13th May 2021 read more »

The head of a vital UN climate summit due to be held in Glasgow in November says his personal priority is to banish coal. Speaking ahead of the COP26 conference, Alok Sharma will urge nations to abandon coal power generation, with rich countries leading the way. He will add that wealthy nations must help poorer ones make the same change. And he will tell banks and institutions to stop lending money to countries to build coal power stations. In his speech, the former business Secretary will say: “The days of coal providing the cheapest form of power are in the past. And in the past they must remain. “The coal business is, as the UN secretary general [António Guterres] has said, going up in smoke. It’s old technology.

BBC 14th May 2021 read more »

Guardian 14th May 2021 read more »

Business Green 14th May 2021 read more »

Independent 14th May 2021 read more »

Telegraph 14th May 2021 read more »

The National 14th May 2021 read more »

This year’s climate summit COP26 will be the world’s best chance of building a cleaner, greener future, COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma will say in a major speech outside of Glasgow today.

Cabinet Office 14th May 2021 read more »

Britain has made big promises about reducing our impact on the planet, but getting there means huge changes to our everyday lives. In this surprising and funny documentary, we follow members of the UK’s first ever Citizens Assembly on climate change, where 108 ordinary Brits are tasked with deciding what we should do to meet our climate change goals. Organised by Parliament, this historic event sees members of the public grapple with big questions about our future. As the Assembly members learn the science of climate change from experts and hear Sir David Attenborough thank them for giving up their time to this task, they begin to realise the huge significance of the decisions they must make. The film follows seven Assembly members from all over the UK, who each bring their own perspective to the climate change debate. Sue, an ex-fishmonger from Bath, is shocked to learn the science of climate change and when floods hit the UK – and the South West in particular – she begins to understand how close to home these issues can be and resolves to make personal changes. British Gas employee Marc, from Newcastle, is enthusiastic about taking part in the Assembly, but is worried about losing his job in the transition to green energy, while 27-year-old postal-worker Amy is unsettled when she learns the environmental impact of the coal fire she heats her home with. We also meet retired printer and ardent Brexiteer Richard, who is sceptical about climate change and reluctant to accept many of the proposals put forward in the Assembly. But when his own health deteriorates, he is forced to re-examine the impact of dirty air on all our lives. Through this cast of warm, funny Brits, we understand the challenge we all face in the effort to reduce climate change, and start to see what the future might look like in a greener world.

BBC 13th May 2021 read more »

Kelp, maggots and algae must replace wheat, maize and rice on menus if the world is to feed itself in an era of escalating environmental threats, a Cambridge University study has said. The researchers suggest that radical changes to the food system will be needed to create “risk-resilient diets” in the face of climate change.

Times 14th May 2021 read more »

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said for the first time that climate change is being driven at least in part by humans. The agency made the acknowledgement in a new report that had been delayed by the Trump White House since 2017. The Climate Change Indicators report charts the extent to which glaciers are shrinking, sea levels are rising and flooding is increasing. The impacts are being felt by Americans “with increasing regularity”, it says.

BBC 13th May 2021 read more »

Humanity’s enormous emissions of greenhouse gases are shrinking the stratosphere, a new study has revealed. The thickness of the atmospheric layer has contracted by 400 metres since the 1980s, the researchers found, and will thin by about another kilometre by 2080 without major cuts in emissions. The changes have the potential to affect satellite operations, the GPS navigation system and radio communications.

Guardian 12th May 2021 read more »