Good to chat with my MP @AnthonyMangnal1 at last night's sewage meeting. Anthony offered this in defence of the Gov's climate record:
1/ UK's better than others in Europe & could I name a single country with more wind power. I said it's not a competition, but anyway👇
A quick🧵
2/ He said it's better to use our cleaner coal than dirty Polish coal. Similar with oil. I explained that the IPCC, CCC & IEA say new fossil fuels are not consistent with 1.5°C. We don't even need them because science shows 100% renewables is feasible. brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/…
3/ I added that science tells us 60% of existing oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground for even a 50% chance of 1.5°C. I said our new fossils would be extra: which other country would cut output?
World prices could crash, threatening the transition. nature.com/articles/s4158…
4/ @benwhlong asked @AnthonyMangnal1 whether he accepted the IPCC's warning that ignoring the science on new fossil fuels presented a grave risk to our future. Anthony said he wasn't sure, he'd need to see more evidence.
Let me know if this isn't enough: report.ipcc.ch/ar6syr/pdf/IPC…
5/ Anthony said that I was wearing a coat containing oil products and really shouldn't criticise the government from such a hypocritical position.
6/ Anthony also said our emissions are tiny compared to China etc. I said we need targets on imported emissions.
And whilst we can’t preach, we can lead, by passing the #CEBill. Others will follow just as they did when the Cons Gov adopted net zero by 2050.
7/ I asked Anthony what he though about the Gov's OWN projections showing us missing our Paris NDC by 40% and our 6th carbon budget by 100%.
He suggested the large number of new 'green day' policies would deal with this. But....
8/ Still analysing the huge Green Day document drop which does contain some positive content, but the pushing ahead with new N Sea oil and gas seriously undermines UK' credentials. theguardian.com/environment/20…
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This week's impressive Climate Change Committee report makes a rock solid case for net zero.
BUT it recommends a major program of new fossil fuel infrastructure—giving Big Oil exactly what it wants.
Why that’s a bad mistake, and what the alternative is.
A thread 🧵1️⃣
2️⃣ This will be lots of new gas power stations & dirty ‘blue hydrogen’ plants (making hydrogen from fossil-gas). The flawed idea is that carbon capture will make them green.
This👇means roughly 2.5 new plants the size of the Net Zero Teesside power station every year. (p210)
3️⃣These 'carbon capture' plants will be around as bad as coal for the climate, even if the #CCS works (scientists warn it likely won’t).
But because most of the emissions they cause occur beyond UK borders, Gov & the CCC simply ignore them and pretend this is ‘low carbon’.
3️⃣This stance☝️really is absurd. The UK Gov ignores upstream emissions just because they occur outside UK borders.
That’s a loophole in our outdated climate targets—which ignore consumption emissions—leading to perverse decisions.
Some Labour MPs are telling constituents they support the Climate & Nature Bill's aims but say it's not needed because existing targets are sufficient.
Here's why they're mistaken 🧵
[copy of their standard email at the end]
2️⃣They acknowledge the crisis and cite existing policies like onshore wind, solar projects, or green funding. But the truth is, these steps are nowhere near sufficient, and our targets far too weak to drive meaningful change in the vital coming years.
3️⃣Celebrating small wins while ignoring the transformative action we need—which the CAN Bill would deliver—is like bailing the water in a sinking ship instead of fixing the leak.
Under our current laws, we totally ignore the emissions from all the manufacturing we've offshored!
Brief reasons why I think Ed Miliband—whose sincerity I don't doubt—has been persuaded we need new power stations & blue hydrogen plants ('CCS plans'). 🧵
2️⃣The UK grid operator set out a scenario which virtually eliminates the need for carbon capture, but it means growing renewables faster.
That's not happening because the big energy companies aren't investing in them. Why?
3️⃣Companies can charge sky-high prices for scarce fossil fuels. But you can’t do that with abundant wind, solar, or water—nothing stops a competitor setting up nearby.
Gov should fix this market failure with a big tax on oil/gas profits. Instead, they’re doing the opposite....
1️⃣ People are asking why Labour is backing the Conservatives' carbon capture plans, which rely heavily on new gas & hydrogen plants.
I'll do a fuller thread on this, but I've just found an important new reason, and it would be laughable if not so serious.
A quick explainer 🧵
2️⃣Turns out that the computer model that DESNZ uses to find the cheapest way to net zero only accounts for emissions within UK territorial boundaries.
So that means they totally ignore the huge emissions caused along the supply chain for the LNG feeding their new 'CCS' plants!
3️⃣The model produces perverse results, because it's driven by the UK's emissions targets—which ignore the emissions we cause overseas.
So the computer picks solutions that spew out huge amounts of greenhouse gases, but that's apparently OK because they happen somewhere else🙄