Insight

Our world is on fire.  2023 was the hottest year on record.  This year a record 15 national heat records have been broken so far[1]. We are facing an unprecedented number of heat-related deaths, wildfires and extreme weather events. But our response to the climate crisis falls far short of the scale of the challenge.…

The Greener Transport Council has written to MPs today in advance of the Parliamentary debate on the National Networks National Policy Statement on 26th March. In our assessment, the NNNPS as written, waters down the treatment of the carbon impacts of national road and rail programmes. We pose three key questions to answer. Whether an…

2023 is likely to be the world’s hottest year on record[i]. Record breaking heatwaves hit much of continental Europe, resulting in lethal flash floods and wildfires.  There have been deadly and devastating floods in Libya, fires in Hawaii and typhoons in China.  Pope Francis warns that the world may be “nearing breaking point”. The forthcoming…

Net zero policy in the UK has hit a new low. Before the cries of indignation – yes, it is true that the UK once had a record to be proud of. We were the first advanced economy to commit to net zero by 2050, our economy has grown by 65% whilst emissions reduced by…

2022 was our hottest year on record, with an unprecedented number of heat-related deaths, wildfires and infrastructure disruptions.  2023 looks set to be still worse.  But our response is not yet requisite to the scale of the challenge.  Climate change is an existential threat which we have become strangely accustomed to living with. Transport is…

The recent publication of my analysis of the downgrading of transport decarbonisation ambition as set out in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (Reverse Gear) is a pretty depressing read. 72% of the ambition for change set out in 2021 seemingly set aside. The analysis shows that, even with the ZEV Mandate emissions from vehicles will…

The past eight years have been the hottest in recorded history.  Despite achieving an historic breakthrough on a new “loss and damage” fund, COP27 failed to move the dial on reducing emissions. We are nowhere near the scale of change needed.  As the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it: “We are in the fight…

Our climate is heating up at great speed.  China is experiencing the longest sustained heatwave and drought in its history.  Catastrophic flooding has left more than 1,300 people dead and a third of Pakistan under water.  Half of Europe is in drought.  Meanwhile, Putin is using the supply of gas to Europe as a weapon…

We must start by facing the truth. Government policy will not deliver net zero.  Nor will everything in our current arsenal of policies and measures. Achieving net zero carbon is a major national and global challenge, and one that cannot be met by any sector acting alone.  Global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by…

The IPCC have warned that it’s “now or never” if world is to stave off climate disaster.  We already look set to overshoot the 1.5C target. In carefully calibrated messaging, the IPCC’s latest report highlights the enormous scale of the challenge but that we have the tools and the knowhow required.  Lifestyle changes offer significant…

The latest IPCC report has been described as ‘an atlas of human suffering’. Climate impacts are worse than predicted.  Extreme weather events are accelerating. No region is safe. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future. The report’s publication last week would have…

Climate change is no longer a distant threat.  As we experience extreme weather events of increasing ferocity and frequency, we can hear its impacts knocking ever more loudly and insistently on our door. Have we heard the wake-up call?  COP26 was a partial success in that it kept the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. …