Ed Matthew
@edmatthew.bsky.social
UK Programme Director for independent climate change think tank E3G
Ed Miliband to announce green investments from private sector over this Parliament will amount to £100 billion - clean energy can stabilise bills and is the growth engine of the economy.
Ed Miliband to say UK must stick to net zero targets to deliver jobs and growth
Energy secretary expected to argue that UK clean economy is booming as private sector pledges over £100bn of investment
theguardian.com
Let’s hope Andy Burnham learns the lessons - the PM needs to charge into the energy debate with full confidence that clean energy is the foundation for the UK’s economic success and affordable energy bills and the first priority should be to remove levies on electricity bills to power up the country
Starmer has a strong green record – but a rightwing backlash weakened his plans
Prime minister was forced to row back on some policies despite strong support among voters for climate action
theguardian.com
Guardian covers response from me and CSOs to the false claim by Tony Blair that abandoning net zero and drilling for every last drop in the North Sea would be good for the U.K. - it’s nonsense and driven by his links to the fossil fuel industry. Our fossil fuel dependence has caused economic mayhem
Blair’s fossil fuel ideas ‘bizarre’ in face of energy and climate crises, experts say
Energy specialists say abandoning net zero and increasing oil and gas drilling would cause more instability for Britons
theguardian.com
We are in midst of another fossil fuel crisis and need to accelerate electrification to strengthen energy and economic security. This decision by HMRC to appeal a court ruling that government should not be charging more than 5% VAT on EV charging only undermines that mission - No 10 needs to step in
UK to appeal against tax ruling cutting VAT on public electric car chargers to 5%
HMRC confirms it will fight London tax tribunal’s finding that it has been overcharging for years under the law
theguardian.com
As Iran war reminds us all the cost of fossil fuel dependence, news breaks that new electric cars are now cheaper to buy than new petrol cars for first time. They are already £1000 a year cheaper to run each year. EV demand is set to accelerate
New electric cars now cheaper than petrol on average for the first time says Autotrader
plc.autotrader.co.uk
14 years of new North Sea oil and gas licenses under Tory administrations under a maximum extraction policy led to one months supply of gas. It proves that new licenses will do nothing to strengthen our energy security. It is a fantasy peddled by the political wing of the fossil fuel barons
Hundreds of North Sea licences granted by Conservatives have ‘so far produced only 36 days worth of gas’
Exclusive: Findings cast doubt on claims new drilling would help cut bills and boost energy security, researchers say
theguardian.com
Why have progressive voters deserted Labour? I’ve worked as a climate campaigner for 20 years and one clue to this question may be that since Labour came to power I’ve detected no change from Treasury on climate action - they are as backward as the Tories - perhaps scared of Reform. This must change
Great thread from @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org ripping to pieces the shameless disinformation on the cost of net zero from oil and gas funded Tufton Street and covered without due scrutiny by the right wing media. It assumes funding and running a fossil fuel system is free - 100% bollocks
Simon Evans@drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 7mo agoThe utterly shameless & widely covered "report" out today, claiming net zero will "cost" £9tn is based on: * Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc AND * Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero I kid you not, it is that stupid
Drivers of EVs can save on average over £1000 a year on fuel costs. Badenoch is not on the side of drivers. She is on the side of the fossil fuel companies. A faster transition to EVs will also help to keep our car manufacturers competitive
Kemi Badenoch: Tories to scrap petrol ban if they win next election
The Conservative Party leader says the policy is "destructive" and "economic self-harm".
bbc.com
ECO was failing but needed reform, not axing. The impact will be a cut of £5 billion to insulate fuel poor homes and loss of 10,000 jobs. Reeves cut winter fuel payments then u-turned; she then cut disability benefits then u-turned. Now she is slashing funding for the fuel poor. A Labour Chancellor
Cuts to insulation scheme will leave homes cold over winter, experts say
E3G thinktank warns retrofit sector could shed 10,000 skilled jobs as small firms struggle to survive
theguardian.com
I’m quoted in this article criticising Chancellor for axing ECO, the U.K. insulation scheme. The most recent version failed due to terrible design by former government, but it needed reform, not scrapping. The decision is a £5 billion cut to insulate homes of fuel poor and will cost 10,000 jobs
IFS responds to £150 cut to energy bills pledged in Rachel Reeves’ Budget
Some climate campaigners have criticised the move by Rachel Reeves to cut green levies
independent.co.uk
The real story here is Reeves trying to gut the warm homes plan. If she gets her way at Budget and the ECO green levy is axed, then green homes funding for insulation and electrification will be cut from £21bn to £13bn over 5 years - a 40% cut which will lead to more gas dependency and higher bills
Hundreds of thousands to lose heat pump subsidies in Reeves’s budget plan
Exclusive: Supporters say grants largely going to middle-class households, but experts warn move will slow transition from gas boilers
theguardian.com
What a great project to make the use of veteran skills - helping to accelerate the clean tech revolution. Extra poignant given clean energy is super essential to energy security and indeed national security
ECIU@eciu.net · 9mo agoThe new schemes supporting military veterans to join the clean energy industry At least one in six veterans is already armed with many of the skills needed for the clean energy sector. buff.ly/Srv8Reu.
Guardian cover letter we helped coordinate to call on the Chancellor not to cut or axe the Energy Company Obligation at Budget. 67 civil society groups and major businesses say it would threaten fuel poverty and climate targets to remove UKs leading insulation programme. Thanks to all that signed
Cutting home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households
theguardian.com
The Treasury is at serious risk of killing off the transition to electric vehicles by bringing in a new pay per mile tax at Budget. Given the market is only just going mainstream, this move could torpedo progress. It’s bad timing which won’t help the U.K. EV industry or climate action
The Treasury is actively contemplating axing the UKs main insulation programme (ECO) to cut energy bills. Given how critical insulation is to ending fuel poverty and reducing energy bills, it would be completely self defeating and destroy the insulation industry as well. Mobilise. Now.
Reeves considers cut to green levies in effort to reduce cost of energy bills
Exclusive: Chancellor hopes to save up to £170 from average bill but industry insiders say move would be ‘disastrous’
theguardian.com
This catastrophic, record breaking hurricane was made 5 times more likely by climate change. The politicians and media figures arguing for slowing down the transition to carbon free energy are fuelling this destruction
First deaths from Hurricane Melissa confirmed in Jamaica and Haiti
The hurricane - Jamaica's worst to date - was downgraded from a category five storm on Wednesday.
bbc.co.uk
This is powerful research showing that the UK has saved over £100 Billion on our energy bills due to the roll out of wind power. That is the saving after accounting for green subsidies. This shreds false claims by Reform that renewables drives up energy bills. They are lying. The reverse is true
Wind power has cut £104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds
Reduction comes from energy generated from windfarms and lower cost of gas owing to lower demand
theguardian.com
Data from the real world shows that hybrid cars are little better than regular petrol and diesel cars when it comes to the fuel they consume, the CO2 they produce and the money they cost to run. The lesson here is that the industry (and consumers) should leap straight to full electric cars
Plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as petrol cars, report finds
Analysis of 800,000 European cars found real-world pollution from plug-in hybrids nearly five times greater than lab tests
theguardian.com
Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election
Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...
desmog.com
China ≠ just coal plants and solar exports. The deeper shift: electrifying everything it can. Strategic, because China relies on imported fossil fuels. Coal is still king in the power mix—for now. But the balance is changing year by year.
This blog is my take on the Tory Party vow this week to axe the Climate Change Act. This is not leadership. It is surrender to the commercial interests of fossil fuel barons at the cost of us all.
Pledge to axe UK Climate Change Act backfires
The attempts to turn the British public against climate action does not only make no scientific or economic sense, it makes no political sense.
e3g.org
My take on the decision by Kemi Badenoch to end the fight against the climate crisis and torpedo the U.K. economy and a great critique by @fionaharvey.bsky.social of the falsehoods set out in the Tory press release. This action by Badenoch is utterly shameful.
As Tories vow to scrap ‘failed targets’, how do their climate claims stack up?
We fact check Kemi Badenoch and her party after she promised to repeal Climate Change Act if they win power
theguardian.com
Kemi Badenoch has now aligned the Tory party on climate with Trump and the far right parties of Europe. Tragic. It shows that she is more interested in the profits of oil and gas companies than the security of the country. The Tory party can no longer be trusted on the environment or the economy
Kemi Badenoch vows to repeal Climate Change Act
Tory leader says she would replace it with ‘cheap energy’ strategy, ending decades-long consensus on climate
theguardian.com
There’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt. This is simply false. - UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh - panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
And here is the graphic showing the potential for heat pumps to cost half as much to run as a gas boiler WITH policy reforms - full report is here : www.e3g.org/publications...
www.theguardian.com/environment/... - our latest E3G report showing that with policy reform, running a heat pump could be half the price of running a gas boiler. The future is electric !
Heat pumps could halve heating bills with energy system reform, study finds
Steps to make electricity cheaper, such as ending levies, could transform prospects for pumps, thinktank shows
theguardian.com
Ofgem just approved a record £24bn investment in gas & electric grids to 2031, making bills "£30 lower" than they would have been Predictably, some usual-suspect media have mangled the reporting. So here's a Really Simple guide to counterfactuals, with Bluey refs:
The Tony Blair Institute should issue a public apology for putting out a climate ‘solutions’ report that has been so easily weaponised by those seeking to delay climate action. This was a gross misjudgement and it should have been properly vetted before publication - what a mess
Climate experts and politicians round on Tony Blair for ‘wrong message’
Former Labour PM accused of ‘handing talking points’ to Tories and Reform after saying net zero strategy faltering
theguardian.com
