Will McDowall's Avatar

Will McDowall

@willmcdowall.bsky.social

Academic at UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. Check out my new book for kids: https://www.walker.co.uk/9781529509151/your-planet-needs-you-brilliant-jobs-to-protect-your-world/

840 Followers  |  195 Following  |  27 Posts  |  Joined: 06.11.2023
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Posts by Will McDowall (@willmcdowall.bsky.social)

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Year's worth of British bread lost this decade as extreme weather… New analysis suggests that wheat production is down by the equivalent of over a year’s supply of bread for the UK, after extreme weather hits harvests

ECIU analysis of UK harvest data suggests that extreme weather so far in the 2020s has played a major role in creating a total deficit in wheat production of over seven million tonnes.
eciu.net/media/press...

10.02.2026 09:00 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3
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Your Planet Needs You! Brilliant Jobs to Protect Your World - Walker Books Find out about the positive ways we can all help solve the problem of climate change in this innovative illustrated book.Our climate is changing, and sometim...

Looking for a xmas gift for the kids in your life?

Want to give them an empowering message on climate action?

My book is about the climate-saving jobs kids can grow up to do - educational, fun and hopeful!

www.walker.co.uk/978152950915...

#ClimateSky #EnergySky @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social

15.12.2025 14:49 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Rethinking "green" economic data: Why definitions matter - ESCoE The report reviews the definitions of β€˜green’ economic activity, and recommends ways to improve measurement.

Why do definitions of the β€˜green economy’ matter for different outcomes? And how can we measure its impact more accurately? 🌿

Read more in the blog and paper by @ucl.ac.uk's @willmcdowall.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/32yu8peh

28.08.2025 09:27 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Rethinking "green" economic data: Why definitions matter - ESCoE The report reviews the definitions of β€˜green’ economic activity, and recommends ways to improve measurement.

🌱 What counts as β€œgreen” economic activity? And how should we measure it?

A new ESCoE paper by
@willmcdowall.bsky.social & Janina Fuchs explores how we define and track the green economy, and why getting it right matters. tinyurl.com/32yu8peh

#Research #Sustainability

30.07.2025 08:38 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I absolutely agree that there are no easy approaches. The solutions in the book all help, but none is a silver bullet.

04.07.2025 14:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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U.K. Ad Agencies Call For Total Ban On Fossil Fuel Marketing British ad industry organizations have launched a campaign calling on the government to treat fossil fuels much as it treats tobacco products.

BREAKING: Over 100 U.K. advertising organizations have joined forces to back a nationwide ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship. πŸ’ͺ

#FossilFuelAdsMakeMeSick #GreenSky

πŸ—žοΈ

02.07.2025 19:31 β€” πŸ‘ 94    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 9

Delighted to see my own book on this list!

"Your planet needs you: brilliant jobs to protect your world" explains solutions to climate change, through the climate-saving jobs that kids can grow up to do.

Order your copy now!

03.07.2025 11:53 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
cover of 'your planet needs you: brilliant jobs to protect your world'

cover of 'your planet needs you: brilliant jobs to protect your world'

My children's book on climate action comes out today, from the brilliant @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social

The book introduces kids to the solutions to climate change, through the climate-saving jobs they can grow up to do.

Get your copy now! uk.bookshop.org/p/books/your...

03.07.2025 10:58 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Dry weather pushes up UK food inflation as harvests suffer Price increases in June hit highest rate in more than a year, according to British Retail Consortium

#Heatflation is here: the UK's driest spring/early summer is pushing up the cost of food.

File under #costsofinaction on #climatechange

www.ft.com/content/aeef...

01.07.2025 13:39 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

They haven't! They've just said they cannot keep the internal temperature low enough to make learning possible.

01.07.2025 09:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Lots of young street trees in London are suffering and dying in these hot/dry conditions. If you live near a young street tree, give it a bucket of water today!

30.06.2025 16:04 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

For the second time in two weeks, my son's school is being closed early because of extreme heat.

It was built in 2012.

The UK is shockingly under-prepared for climate change.

30.06.2025 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 51    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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I'm delighted that my forthcoming children's book on climate change has been profiled by @thebookseller.com

The book explains the solutions to climate change, through the jobs that kids can grow up to do. Pre-order here: www.waterstones.com/book/9781529...

04.06.2025 14:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Genuinely shocked how far and fast the Conservative Party has fallen on climate change. They’re now at the accusing climate scientists of β€˜bias’ and considering quitting the Paris Agreement stage of things.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

13.05.2025 05:56 β€” πŸ‘ 304    πŸ” 103    πŸ’¬ 27    πŸ“Œ 30
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Advertising restrictions and sustainability transitions: does banning advertising of harmful products induce innovation in benign alternatives? Environmental activists increasingly seek to ban advertising of polluting products. Advertising bans (of tobacco and alcohol for example) have been wi…

New paper!

Should we ban adverts for polluting goods?

Our case study shows that banning adverts of a harmful product can induce innovation in a benign alternative

doi.org/10.1016/j.ei...

@badvertising.bsky.social

25.04.2025 07:55 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

It's great to see this in print - I had fun commenting on an earlier draft.

Hydrogen will play a very important role in decarbonisation... but we shouldn't expect it to be ubiquitous cure-all

24.04.2025 13:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We've been through this cycle before with H2, so many times

Hydrogen's 'swiss army knife' character -- doing any job -- makes it uniquely well positioned for hype. Radically different interests can all see their future in hydrogen. It's a hype magnet.

17.01.2025 09:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Air Quality Stripes

I'm *loving* these air quality stripes.

Let's hope Saudi Arabia can sort out this horror show before the world cup in 2034.

Air quality stripes plot for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: airqualitystripes.info/stripes/?con...

22.12.2024 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I agree it's a critical issue - but pls expand on 'government will need to take a view'. It makes sense for heat pumps to be installed by multi-competence teams rather than 'boiler guy', but what are the policy options for reshaping the industry structure? Plenty of room for policy screwups...

11.12.2024 13:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Also: look at how the IEA still likes to publish futures in which the rate of solar PV growth plummets

02.12.2024 13:47 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Where's the data from James? Could you reply with the link?

28.11.2024 09:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Come and work at the UCL Energy Institute - We're hiring a lecturer in energy and life-cycle sustainability.

Please share widely!

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

25.11.2024 20:59 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ“’πŸ†•Early view❗️

How do cultures of evidence vary across countries & policy domains❔

@willmcdowall.bsky.social focuses on energy policymaking & compares the culture of evidence in #UK #Germany #Netherlands πŸ‘‡

doi.org/10.1093/pols...

22.11.2024 09:43 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Help to save households money and deliver cleaner heat to homes Up to 300,000 homes to benefit from upgrades next year, as government continues rollout of the Warm Homes Plan.

Really pleased to see government supporting #HeatPumps today - scrapping the 1m rule, extending the boiler upgrade scheme, and getting the market-based mechanism going.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

21.11.2024 13:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Exploring cultures of evidence in energy policymaking in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands Abstract. This paper explores different β€œcultures of evidence” in energy policymaking in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. The urgent energy system tra

Check out my new paper - focused on differences in the understanding and use of evidence in energy policy.

What makes evidence credible? Can we separate 'facts' from 'values'? Different evidence cultures appear to deal with these questions in different ways.

doi.org/10.1093/pols...

20.11.2024 11:45 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Come and work with us at UCL!

We're hiring a new teaching-focused lecturer in innovation & sustainability, to support our new undergrad programme in the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources

Feel free to get in touch to ask about the role.

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

20.11.2024 11:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Delighted that we came 4th in the #CBQuiz - yesterday's most important global news, obvs.

Thanks @carbonbrief.org for hosting!

07.11.2024 11:52 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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ESRC Studentships Main Competition - UBEL DTP ESRC Studentships Main Competition The UBEL DTP’s fully funded ESRC studentships cover full payment of tuition fees per year and an annual maintenance stipend. What’s on offer UBEL DTP studentships co...

Interested in doing a PhD in energy/environment research at UCL's Institute for Sustainable Resources?

Check out the UBEL doctoral training partnership. ubel-dtp.ac.uk/esrc-student...

You need to find a supervisor and an outline project, and submit an outline application by December 2nd.

07.11.2024 11:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

thanks Matt. Much appreciated.

06.11.2024 20:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Excited for the 10th annual #CBQuiz!

06.11.2024 19:03 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0