Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 08/02/24.
News: World’s first year-long breach of key 1.5C warming limit – BBC News Online
8 February 2024, Mark Poynting. For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5C across an entire year, according to the EU’s climate service:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68110310
News: MPs call for more scrutiny on carbon budgets – Energy Live News
6 February 2024, Dimitris Mavrokefalidis. The Environmental Audit Committee has underscored the need for parliamentary scrutiny to address concerns about the UK potentially falling short on the fifth and sixth carbon budgets:
Link: https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/02/06/mps-call-for-more-scrutiny-on-carbon-budgets/
Press release: UK first major economy to halve emissions – Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP
6 February 2024. New official statistics confirm UK has cut emissions by 50% between 1990 and 2022:
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-first-major-economy-to-halve-emissions
National statistics: Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990 to 2022 – Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
6 February 2024. Final estimates of UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions:
News: UK Energy Minister Condemns Wind Farms for Overstating Their Output – BNN Bloomberg
2 February 2024, Gavin Finch, Alex Wickham and Todd Gillespie. A UK energy minister on Thursday condemned the behaviour of wind-farm operators who have routinely overestimated how much power they’ll generate — a practice that adds to consumers’ bills, according to electricity traders and market experts:
Article: Labour to ditch £28bn annual green investment pledge, party sources say – Guardian Online
1 February 2024, Peter Walker, Pippa Crerar, Kiran Stacey and Eleni Courea. Exclusive: Party will keep plan to invest in green infrastructure but will in effect cut green ambitions by about two-thirds:
Press release: 24 licences offered in second tranche of 33rd oil and gas licensing round – North Sea Transition Authority
31 January 2024. Shell, Equinor, bp, Total and NEO are among the 17 separate companies which have today (31 January 2024) been offered a total of 24 licences in the second tranche of the 33rd oil and gas licensing round:
News: UK’s record energy transition investment needs to double to hit net zero targets – City AM
30 January 2024, Rhodri Morgan. The all-time high energy transition investment levels seen in 2023 will need to triple and remain consistent through the next six years to meet net zero targets, a new report has warned:
News: BP faces City pressure to ditch £24bn clean energy investments for shareholders – City AM
29 January 2024, Rhodri Morgan. A leading London activist investor group is pressuring oil giant BP to ditch renewable energy and maintain its fossil fuel operations for shareholders, reports suggest:
News: Hinkley Point C woes threaten to break UK and France’s nuclear fusion – Guardian Online
27 January 2024, Jillian Ambrose. Cross-Channel dream is turning sour as EDF’s costs mount and Britain faces a long wait for the power to come on:
News: Good Law Project presses ministers over onshore turbines – Energyst
26 January 2024, Alban Thurston. Campaigners at the Good Law Project have begun legal action against D-ESNZ and planning ministers over the government’s exclusion of land-based wind power from planning guidelines covering England’s structurally significant power projects:
Link: https://theenergyst.com/good-law-project-sues-ministers-over-onshore-turbines/
News: Net-Zero Unveiled: UK’s Ambitions Analyzed – Carbon Free Europe
24 January 2024, Florian A Schneider & Tone Lanengen. The United Kingdom established its legal commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 in 2019.Despite this ambitious stance, recent setbacks, such as the UK government’s postponement of the ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 20352 and the lack of bids in a recent offshore wind auction, prompt reflection on the nation’s path to fulfilling both short-term and long-term environmental goals:
Link: https://www.carbonfreeeurope.org/product/net-zero-unveiled-uks-ambitions-analyzed
Report: Value for Money – The government’s support for biomass – National Audit Office
24 January 2024. The purpose of this report is to support Parliament’s understanding of the conditions in which the government considers biomass as a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels:
Link: https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/the-governments-support-for-biomass/
News: Energy security is a must, but UK’s absurd oil and gas bill won’t help – City AM
24 January 2024, Nigel Pocklington. Energy security is a pressing concern, but the UK’s absurd oil and gas bill is yet more evidence that the government is living in a parallel universe when it comes to energy policy:
Link: https://www.cityam.com/energy-security-is-a-must-but-uks-absurd-oil-and-gas-bill-wont-help/
News: Two million “will disconnect from energy” this winter because they can’t afford to top up, Citizens Advice warns – Energyst
23 January 2024, Alban Thurston. New analysis from Citizens Advice has found that more than two million people across the UK will disconnect from their gas and electricity this winter because they can’t afford to top up their prepayment meter:
News: Two million could see energy cut off this winter, charity warns – BBC News Online
23 January 2024, Lora Jones. Two million people could have their gas and electricity cut off this winter because they cannot afford to top up their prepayment meter, new research suggests:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68060452
Article: Aberdeen University study of decommissioned onshore gas field highlights hydrogen storage concerns – Energy-pedia
22 January 2024. A study exploring the potential of a decommissioned gas field in Scotland as a major hydrogen store has highlighted concerns over potential leaks and recommended that it shouldn’t be used. Research led by Professor John Underhill at the University of Aberdeen and Malcolm Butler at the UK Onshore Geophysical Library (UKOGL) concluded that the Cousland gas field in Midlothian fails to meet the criteria for safe subsurface storage: