George Smeeton

baby newts do-do-do-do-do-doo…

Record warm seas help to bring extraordinary species to UK waters The UK's seas have had their warmest first seven months of the year on average since records began.

UK's seas have had their warmest start to the year since records began, helping to drive dramatic changes in marine life and for fishing communities:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Warning as major global issue poses 'growing threat' to UK food security Migration driven by climate change poses a "growing threat" to UK food security, green experts have warned.

UK food imports are under threat because £3 billion worth of food is coming to Britain from the 20 countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced people from extreme weather disasters, finds @eciu.net analysis:

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2091...

Subsidise cheaper loans for heat pumps, energy industry urges ministers Britain’s biggest energy companies have called on Ed Miliband to subsidise cheaper loans to help nearly a million people switch to heat pumps and other green technologies. Industry group Energy UK, wh...

Britain’s biggest energy companies have called on the government to subsidise cheaper loans to help nearly a million people switch to heat pumps and other green technologies

@energy-uk.org.uk says middle income households risk being "left behind"

www.linkedin.com/pulse/subsid...

Record number of solar panels, batteries and heat pumps have been installed in UK homes and buildings in the first six months of 2025, figures show:

www.itv.com/news/2025-08...

Devastating footage of a flash flood destroying a village in Uttarakhand, northern India, today. Such events will become increasingly severe and more frequent as global temperatures rise. Posted by Channel 4 on IG.

Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research

ICYM - Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation

- Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research

#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Renewables generate half of UK’s electricity in 2024 in new record high Official figures show wind, solar, hydro and biomass generated 50.4% of UK power last year.

Renewables generated more than half of the UK’s power for the first time in 2024 in a new record high for clean electricity sources:

www.independent.co.uk/news/busines...

Good news alert

In 2024, renewables supplied more than half of the UK's electricity for the first time over a year, reaching a record share of 50.4%

Renewables and nuclear combined hit a new high of 64.7%

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6889ec...

2025 has seen the second warmest first half of the year on record after 2024 – and is on track to be the second or third warmest year since records began in 1850. My latest State of the Climate report over at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...

Trump to scrap landmark finding that regulates carbon emissions Experts warn the move will severely curb the federal government's ability to combat climate change.

Trump administration announces plan to scrap landmark finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to the environment, severely curbing federal government's ability to combat climate change:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A map showing temperatures across Turkey, Saudi Arabia and northeast Africa on Friday 25th July 2025. Silopi, Şırnak, Turkey is marked on the map and a temperature of 50.5 Celsius is also marked. This is a new temperature record for Turkey.

Turkey recorded its highest temperature on record on Friday with 50.5°C recorded in Silopi ⚠️📈

This exceeds the previous record of 49.5°C recorded on 15th August 2023 🌡️

This extreme heat is bringing serious health impacts and giving a very high risk of wildfires 🔥

Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change The decision from the world's highest court has been welcomed by developing nations at most risk from climate change.

Landmark decision by top UN court clears way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'The North Sea is running out of gas': New study warns basin is unable to meet UK heating demand from 2027 New analysis by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition warns UK must urgently switch to renewable heating sources to avoid relying on imported gas and volatile international fossil fuel markets

Remarkable how often this is missed in political debates on energy. Farage and Badenoch are allowed to repeatedly imply drilling more can fix everything, but it is highly probable there is not much gas left to drill. www.businessgreen.com/news/4516717...

The UN's highest court will decide Wednesday on the climate obligations of countries Judges at the UN’s highest court are set to issue a decision Wednesday that could set a legal benchmark for action on the climate crisis

UN International Court of Justice set to deliver landmark opinion on climate change today over state's obligations to tackle climate crisis:

www.independent.co.uk/news/netherl...

It seems to be contagious.

Now the Sun is also having to correct it heavily biased coverage of net-zero in response to, you know, actual facts...

Rising food prices driven by climate crisis threaten world’s poorest, report finds High cost of staples due to extreme weather could lead to more malnutrition, political upheaval and social unrest

Climate change-induced food price shocks are on the rise and could lead to more malnutrition, political upheaval and social unrest as world’s poorest are hit by shortages of food staples, research finds:

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Rapidly increasing chance of record UK summer temperatures The UK recorded its first exceedance of 40°C in July 2022. To assess the current chance of recurrence, we use a large climate model ensemble approach and find the 2023 return period to be 1-in-24 yea....

3 years ago today, 40°C was reached in the UK for the first time.

But is that as hot as the UK can get in the current climate? Model evidence suggests temperatures could in fact exceed 45°C if conditions are perfect 🫣

Gillian Kay and colleagues in @rmets.org Weather: doi.org/10.1002/wea....

Labour MPs challenge Richard Tice over Reform UK’s plan to scrap green projects Exclusive: Letter signed by 59 MPs criticises party’s deputy leader after his warned energy firms over new contracts

Almost 60 Labour MPs with green energy jobs in their constituencies have written jointly to Richard Tice to ask if he appreciates how much growth and employment is tied up in the sector (and to ask if he proposes to rip up UK contract law)

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

Reform tells energy firms it would scrap their clean power subsidies Richard Tice has written to firms giving them ‘formal notice’ that Reform would tear up contracts designed to boost green energy investment.

Reform UK Deputy leader Richard Tice tells Britain’s biggest wind and solar developers it would end their access to a clean energy subsidy scheme if it won power:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

More areas of country move into drought with dry weather set to continue National Drought Group steps up operational response and asks people to play their part in managing the drought and use water wisely

2 more areas of England have moved into drought

3 were already in drought, taking total to 5

In a worst case scenario, officials think another 3 areas could slip into drought

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

www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Electric cars: Drivers offered up to £3,750 discount Government will subsidise prices cuts to encourage a shift away from petrol and diesel.

Cost of some new electric cars to be reduced by up to £3,750 under grants being introduced by government to encourage drivers to move away from petrol and diesel vehicles:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A plot of the maximum temperature (as red dots) reached in the UK each year from 1950 showing a large scatter but strong upward trend

Just one chart from the @metoffice.gov.uk State of the UK climate report published today. We get used to focusing on the record highs and how 35C has gone from being rare to routine. But just look at all those summers which never got to 30C even in my lifetime. It’s a different UK now.

Ed Miliband to tell MPs who reject net zero policies they are betraying future generations Exclusive: Energy secretary’s ‘radical truth-telling’ comes as Reform plans net zero bonfire and Tories also ditch targets

Ed Miliband to explicitly call out politicians who reject net zero policies for betraying future generations in unprecedented update to parliament about state of climate crisis:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Met Office: Extreme weather the UK's new normal The UK has a notably different climate compared with just a few decades ago, the Met Office says.

UK is breaking heat and rainfall records increasingly frequently as its climate continues to warm, Met Office warns.

Country's changing weather patterns mean UK now experiences a "notably different" climate to what it was just a few decades ago:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Intense Mediterranean Sea heatwave raises fears for marine life Sea temperatures around places like Majorca exceeded 30C earlier this month, far above average.

Western Mediterranean Sea’s most extreme marine heatwave ever recorded raises concerns over potentially devastating consequences for marine life:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Climate change poses growing threat to UK economy, says BoE official Sarah Breeden cites evidence that extreme weather events push up inflation in ways central banks find difficult to combat

Climate change represents a growing threat to UK’s economic stability, with potential to worsen inflationary shocks and trigger sudden repricing of assets, warns top Bank of England official:

www.ft.com/content/947f...

'This could have been avoided': 1.3 million 'energy-insecure' UK homes built since 2015 Since the Zero Carbon Homes Standard was ditched in 2015, more than a million UK homes have been built with fossil gas heating and insufficient insulation levels, ECIU claims

Over a million 'energy-insecure' UK homes have been built in decade since previous government controversially decided to ditch energy efficiency rules that would have enabled new homes to avoid expensive gas bills:

www.businessgreen.com/news/4516130...

NEW: Getting to net-zero will be much cheaper than thought for the UK – and unchecked global warming far more costly, says OBR

Quick piece / thread with 4 key charts showing, yet again, why climate action is far less costly than inaction

🧵

www.carbonbrief.org/...
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Climate breakdown tripled death toll in Europe’s June heatwave, study finds Heat caused 2,300 deaths across 12 cities, of which 1,500 were down to climate crisis, scientists say

Scientists estimate that high heat killed 2,300 people across 12 major cities as temperatures soared across Europe between 23 June and 2 July, with 1,500 of the deaths attributed to worsening climate change:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...