Andy Russell

#COP30 AGENDA FIGHT: Battle looms over which issues to discuss at COP30 (an "agenda fight")

Proposed late additions to agenda:

* trade
* finance
* deforestation
* ambition
* reporting

Hence, now on 4th version of agenda (!)

This must be resolved before negotiations begin 🧵

1/

Queen Mary experts head to COP30 in Brazil Queen Mary University of London is sending a delegation of five researchers to Belém, Brazil, to participate in COP30, the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference. Set in the Amazon from ...

From London to the Amazon!

Queen Mary is sending five researchers to #COP30 in Belém, Brazil, to collaborate with international partners and showcase how the University is taking action to combat climate change through research www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

EGU 2025 EGU 2025

Not convinced? Here's an overview of some of the science-policy sessions from 2025: earthenvironment.helmholtz.de/changing-ear...

Work on the Geo #SciencePolicy interface? Heading to #EGU26 ? Why not submit (your second, EOS!) abstract to "Strengthening Policy Through Science: Insights from the interface"?! meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/sessio...

Ministers tell Environment Agency to wave planning applications through Exclusive: Officials say they have been told to do as little as legally possible to prevent approvals for housebuilding

Being careful with my wording, I suspect that there could be a possibility that focusing on short term, narrow targets (eg. house building) could, possibly exacerbate future risks (eg. flooding, overheating) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Image of a wind turbine in a sheep field with text reading: We want to hear from you about your priorities fro the environment, climate change and nature.

We've launched our Environment in Focus inquiry, asking you for your ideas on what the committee should look in to.

Find out more: committees.parliament.uk/work/9336/th...

Climate crisis will increase frequency of lightning-sparked wildfires, study finds These wildfires tend to burn in more remote areas and grow larger faster, posing a higher risk to public safety and health

This is fine -dot- gif

Department “Away Day” today a full 1 floor “Away” from my office. It looks like being very much a full “Day” though, so that bit is accurate.

Excellent news this week that I’ve been promoted to Reader (from SL). Very happy but always amazed at how slow the academic promotion cycle is; my application went in almost 9 months ago!

Summer 2025 is the warmest on record for the UK Provisional Met Office statistics confirm that summer 2025 is officially the warmest summer on record for the UK.

New analysis from @metoffice.gov.uk showing that the record-breaking hot UK summer of 2025 has been made much more likely by human-induced climate change and such a hot summer would be expected about once every 5 years in current climate. www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

Counting down to zero: the final warning from a climate diplomat The long read: Before Peter Betts died in 2023, he wanted to pass on what he had learned over many years of negotiating at Cops – including how Paris 2015 was saved at the last bell

Some super interesting reflections from a UK (and EU) climate diplomat of the Paris Agreement period. Will definitely get hold of the book when it’s out #climatechange #climatepolicy www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Research and Development Fellowship Programme 2026/27 - Defra Jobs - UK Government We’re delighted to launch our 2026 R&D Fellowship Programme for Defra. Join us in using science and analysis to tackle some of today’s biggest policy challenges. For a third year, we’re offering the b...

Defra fellowships for 2026/27 are open applications up to 16th September: defrajobs.co.uk/roles/resear...

Storm Floris latest: 'Do not travel' and 'danger to life' warnings as storm hits UK Storm Floris is hitting the UK, bringing winds of up to 90mph. A yellow weather warning is in force for millions in the north of the country, with an amber alert fast approaching. Follow the latest be...

Storm Floris looks like it could cause a lot of disruption. Stay safe and think about how to adapt plans. news.sky.com/story/storm-...

Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave | Climate crisis | The Guardian Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961

"A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Would you know how to form a #community #flood group? What are the first steps when getting started? Any important things to consider?

Download our ‘Guide to Forming a Flood Action Group’ booklet for an in-depth manual 🔨🤝 thefloodhub.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water | LinkedIn Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water | 2,488 followers on LinkedIn. Solutions focused research into climate, biodiversity & water issues on the islands of Ireland & Great Britain | The...

New PhD - full funding for UK/Irish applicant - start Jan 26 - Design and evaluation of multi-functional Blue Green Infrastructure under climate change tinyurl.com/42s8rade: Clare Walsh, Vassilis Glenis & myself, Newcastle Uni. Part of Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water lnkd.in/e5g6nz6V

Incidentally, as well as cancelling sports day, 2 year groups have been moved to remote learning today as the school building is too hot. The school building is less than 20 years old. We've got a long way to go on adaptation!

For the 2nd time in 5 years my kids' school sports day has been cancelled because of hot weather (not Covid, that was a 3rd cancellation). I'm glad they've made the call - its too hot to make sure 100s of kids are ok - but maybe need to think about the timing in the future! #heatwave

Big step to #BeatPollution!

Countries have just agreed to establish a new global science-policy panel to support the management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution.

The panel will equip countries with the science needed #ForPeopleForPlanet: bit.ly/45z01DE

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Is the ocean ‘having a moment’? This was the UN summit where the world woke up to the decline of the seas A slew of global leaders met in the south of France to discuss the future of the oceans. There was ‘momentum’ and ‘enthusiasm’, but there were critical voices too

Hooray that the big UN ocean summit this week made some progress. The two biggest ocean scandals (of many) still continue: the horribly destructive practice of bottom trawling still happens, and many Marine Protected Areas still allow fishing. More work needed!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

PDRA job: latest Resilience of Anthropocene Coasts and Communities postdoc job looking at evidence and policy impact. We’re open to a range of approaches. 2 years, start ASAP, lots of collaboration opportunities. #academicjobs #researchjobs #postdoc #policyjobs

qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/candidate...

It’s a good tip… although Lizzie line trains have no luggage racks at all so at busy times it can be a mild pain. (Not as bad as trying to get on a busy Piccadilly Line train with cases though!)

Oops, *writer

I had a chat with a New Scientist writing after a presentation at EGU and, from reading it back, I was being quite frank about the issues 😬

Toxic waste is spilling onto beaches as rising seas erode landfills Waste from old landfill sites is spilling onto beaches as rising seas erode coastlines - and some of it is toxic

The inter-linked risks of climate change and our waste legacy will be felt along our eroding coastlines. Nice interview of @andyrussell.bsky.social at @egu.eu.
www.newscientist.com/article/2480...
@newscientist.com. Details of our @qmul.ac.uk @ukri.org project at www.ukcoastalandfillresilience.org

Owl sculptures on the side of the Vienna Secession building

They should move to Vienna

Had a brilliant day in the Scottish Parliament yesterday (with 2 of my TRL colleagues @louisereardon.bsky.social and Ruth) meeting lots of the climate and environment experts. Lots of ideas for new collaborations!

Labour not protecting people, economy and homes from climate crisis, watchdog says Plans to protect UK from extreme weather are inadequate, Climate Change Committee says in scathing assessment

…and here’s a Guardian article on the Progress Report with some quotes from the Adaptation Committee chair, Baroness Brown.

“The country is at risk, people are at risk, and there is not enough being done”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

High Court judgment on the national adaptation plan | Friends of the Earth We’re considering an appeal after the national adaptation plan was ruled lawful. Read the legal briefing by our lawyers Will Rundle and Niall Toru.

…and we see some sort of revised NAP3 ASAP.

NAP3 was ruled “lawful” in a high court judgement in 2024 but that’s a pretty low bar. It should be an opportunity to be ambitious and make communities resilient and build in co-benefits. I hope that happens soon.

friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/high...