The world is heading for its hottest year ever, with some parts of the world reaching dangerous new temperature highs last month. According to UN Secretary General António Guterres we have gone beyond global warming, beyond even global heating and …
Politicians retreat as climate impacts advance
In the Greek islands people are running away from the results of climate change, meanwhile the UK Government is running scared of taking action to reduce emissions. Some commentators put the Conservative Party win in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip …
Corporate courts threaten climate action
The EU is planning to withdraw from a treaty which holds back climate progress and allows fossil fuel companies to sue governments in a special court. The UK Government seems content to stick with it, risking the transition away from fossil …
Activist target Grangemouth as politicians dither
With weather records tumbling and climate change accelerating, grassroots activism sees a boost this week as activists join a five-day climate camp near the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical plant. We had the world’s hottest day ever recorded last week, which …
Green progress under threat
As June broke all-time temperature records, action on climate and the environment was stalling with both the UK and Scottish Governments. Last week the UK Government’s official advisors, the Committee on Climate Change, issued their annual progress report on UK climate targets. They …
Labour’s green plan – not good enough
Last week Labour promised to make Britain a clean energy superpower, but they will need to do a lot more if they are to be credible on climate. Their much-trailed proposals have been backwards and forwards on the details for …
Big oil and the energy transition
UN Secretary General António Guterres has stepped up his challenge to the oil companies to stop blocking action on climate change, accusing them of trying to “knee-cap” climate progress. Earlier this year, Mr Guterres used the launch of the latest …
Return to sender
The DRS is (almost) dead, long live the DRS. Deposit Return Schemes exist in many countries and are almost universally popular but Scotland’s perfectly sensible scheme has twice been a political football and is now destined to sit on hold …
Critical materials and the energy transition
Nothing in life is free and the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles comes with human and environmental costs. A new report from Friends of the Earth Scotland called ‘Unearthing injustice’ looks at the human rights abuses and environmental destruction currently caused …
Wildfires and Big Oil
New science linking fossil fuel companies to wildfires could lead to massive damage claims. The science of attribution of major weather events to climate change has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. Instead of always having to say “of …
Sewage overflows and climate change
The crisis of sewage in rivers and at beaches was entirely predictable, with overflowing sewers designed into the system while ignoring coming climate change. In the late 1990s I helped persuade the Scottish Government to increase the number of official …
Legal challenges push governments on climate
From the Netherlands to the United States, more and more legal actions are being brought to try to force governments to do the right thing on climate change. The same kind of scrutiny might be about to be turned upon Scotland’s …