Mike Berners-Lee

Delighted to have Chris Packham opening the National Emergency Briefing. I'll be chairing as 8 experts give briefings on the lastest science and evidence.

Our leaky housing hangs round the neck of the UK economy like a lead weight, dragging households towards poverty and will do so forever or until some government or other has the courage and vision to invest in sorting it out.

…by careful academics who tend to just end up frustrated that he and others still get away with it.

… so I went ahead and started woking on climate stuff (2005). Lomborg was my first deep encounter with climate deceit. Perhaps he even sowed the seeds of my last book ‘A Climate of Truth’. I learned through Lomborg how climate deceit still does its job even when it has been clearly unpicked…

So I spent about a week with his book and its 2000 references. I started finding simple mistakes in the science, then references that didn’t say what he claimed. Then discovered others had catalogued his clear cut errors literally by the hundred load - and he had not once corrected the record …

I first looked into Longborgs work when I first deciding whether to work on climate stuff. His book ‘The Sceptical Environmentalist’ claimed people like me were psychologically wedded to a disaster outlook. I thought I’d better see if he had a point before pivoting my carreer…

Haha. In 2013 Duncan Clark and I wrote a whole chapter about the equation that Bill Gates invented 3 years later - the Kaya identity. It had actually been around for ages.

Yes. ‘Carbon neutral’ flawed concept as it is comes out of GWP100 analysis. It is a slight of hand to keep using it after switching to GWP* - which has to go way negative in climate scenarios achieved by net zero GWP100.

Maybe the issue is more the "no additional heating" stance than the use of GWP* per se? bsky.app/profile/arie...

Yep. The dazzlingly simple principle is that dishonest politicians are unfit -however enticing their narrative. Hence my book ‘A Climate Of Truth’ (which btw is about everything that matters including climate). Audience response at talks tells me very clearly there is huge hunger to raise the bar.

And to be clear SAF is emphatically NOT a ‘game changer’, requiring way too much land, to much energy or hundreds of times too much used cooking oil, depending on which type of SAF you opt for.

Fossil fuel companies also know that more and cheaper renewables will NOT be enough to stop them extracting and selling fuel at ever rising rates. They know that only a constraint directly applied will achieve that. Hence they make sure a carbon price doesn’t happen - because it could actually work!

Whereas for example Battery Smart is replacing blue smoke emitting 2 and 3 wheeler vehicles with electric + battery exchange in cities across the developing world. Fantastic for climate and air quality. Cheaper and better for users and highly investable.

Agreed. Those who do so should watch out though because when properly used, GWP* actually makes a much stronger case for methane reduction than can be seen using GWP100.

Thanks to @sioldridge.bsky.social for arranging this filming and organising an ever-growing list of attendees.

Do you think your MP is aware of the full implications of the climate crisis, across health, national security, food security and our economy?

Ask them to attend the first National Emergency Briefing on 27 Nov: www.nebriefing.org

Mike Berners-Lee making the point that since COP1 there is scant evidence of a change in the rate of global emissions growth. Claims the process has been 'corrupted' by cynical actors since day one.

😱

Rachel Reeves says higher taxes on wealthy ‘part of the story’ for November budget Chancellor hints at rises and calls out past ‘scaremongering’ over VAT on private schools and changes to non-doms

Thank goodness. At last. I’m delighted to pay more tax in exchange for some desperately needed community and infrastructure building.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

BBC Radio 4 - Carbon Lifeforms, The Carbon Cost of Tech, The Internet and AI Jon Long and Dr Tara Shine are joined by Chris McCausland to tackle the topic of Tech.

Catch me on @radio4rne.bsky.social at 6.30 pm tomorrow (Wed 15 Oct) talking about the climate impact of Big Tech and AI, on Carbon Lifeforms with Jon Long and Dr Tara Shine and fellow guest Chris McCausley.
Thanks for having me on!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Blue Earth Summit, 15 - 17 Oct 2025 Mike Berners-Lee, Founder of Small World Consulting, speaking at Blue Earth Summit 2025.

Looking forward to kicking off Day 2 of @blueearthsummit.bsky.social on Thurs 16 Oct.

I'll be on the Blue Earth stage at 9am, talking about the vital role of truth in tackling the polycrisis, and the role every business can play.

Ending with audience Q&A,so bring your questions!

Thanks to Duncan Oswald from Sage, our partners in Carbon Commons, and to Emma Kisby for chairing our panel.

I think there is considerable early adopter advantage here in an otherwise quite crowded field - but carbon accountants should do this primarily because it will mean they will be able to do their work with integrity.

We will soon find out what culture the industry chooses.

So now is a critical moment. If key players support what’s possible now, supply chain carbon accounting will rapidly become a greatly more valuable exercise for all and fundamentally fit for purpose. If not it will feel like a wilful decision to ignore problems and continue to put up with junk.

I sincerely hope the industry went through a gate today from which it is not prepared to go back, especially and specifically on the need for counting everything (system completeness) and greater transparency.

The event was a chance for a step-change in the quality and integrity of the whole carbon accounting industry - putting behind the problems that have plagued it unnecessarily for many years. There was energy in the room, and plenty who now understand both the issues and how solvable they are.

Panel of Mike Berners-Lee, Duncan Oswald and chaired by Emma Kisby. Shows the Carbon Accounting Alliance logo behind.

What a great achievement for the CarbonAccounting Alliance to convene such energy and participation at its first conference today!

I was glad to have the opportunity to spell out some of the current problems and opportunities in carbon accounting ⬇️

Great crowd at the Carbon Accounting Alliance's 1st conference today!

@mikebernerslee.bsky.social was on stage with Sage's Duncan Oswald, chaired by Emma Kisby, talking about #CarbonCommons - our joint project to make carbon accounting system complete:

www.sw-consulting.co.uk/carbon-commons

I’ll be talking at the Carbon accounting Alliance today about the step change that this industry is so long overdue for.

This is one of the critical questions for humanity right. We have to learn how to contain persuasive and manipulative psychopaths instead of promoting the to top leadership positions.