2024 is turning out to be quite the year, isn't it...

I talked to a range of experts about the biggest geopolitical risks to climate action this year, take a look below if you fancy a fairly miserable (but interesting) read ⬇️

Experts: What are the biggest geopolitical risks to climate action in 2024?  carbonbrief.org/experts-what-a…

From trade wars amid great power competition to right-wing populism, slashed budgets for climate finance and disputes over land, water and forests, there's a long list of geopolitical risks to climate action in 2024…

We asked for experts views:

carbonbrief.org/experts-what-a…

We asked a bunch of experts about the biggest geopolitical risks to climate action in 2024

Turns out there are even more reasons to feel depressed than you realised…but still – at least the sun's out 🥹

Collapse of the #HydrogenSoufflé picking up steam. 'Not so long ago, hydrogen looked like the next big thing, offering a way to decarbonise great swaths of the economy, perhaps even heat homes. Fast forward 12 months, the mood is increasingly despondent.'
ft.com/content/14a606…

As always Reilly Brennan delivers with his weekly links. I had no idea Morocco exported more cars to Europe than China, India, or Japan (!) apnews.com/article/morocc…

Fickling 'Just as Britain’s early lead in coal made it the indefatigable power of the 19th century, and US dominance in oil made it a hegemon for the 20th century, China’s advances in green energy give it a formidable position in the 21st.'

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

.David Fickling cuts to the chase about the fossil fuel to renewables transition and how path dependencies have made the U.S. which at its core has always been an oil and gas superpower, waver on its end.

Anti-cycling Columns for Dummies:
1. Include references to “men in Lycra”.
2. Claim to be a cyclist yourself.
3. Don’t mention that 100 pedestrians die after being hit by a car for every 1 who dies after being hit by a cyclist.

Here is a small update to my graphic, which shows that the total land area used by solar parks in Germany is significantly smaller than that of golf courses (approx. 50,000ha).

Some of the figures are from different years, but the proportions are generally accurate.

Worth reading in full

🇬🇧How can the UK tackle its generational challenges?
🪙rivatalise our stagnant economy
🍃shift towards net zero
📈level up and reverse regional inequality

A major new IPPR report reveals:
Growing our green manufacturing sector can achieve all three!
a thread...🧵

Your perennial reminder that opposition costings are done on the basis of assumptions made about the policy by ministers not officials

Explainer below on why they happen and why they are problematic 👇

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/cost…

Panama Canal should be back to 100% in 2025, say analysts. Unlikely to be last time this key shipping route (5% of all global trade) is hit by #climate , as Dr Friederike Otto & co make clear here carbonbrief.org/drought-behind…

ICYMI: 'Our addiction to fossil fuels is so damaging, it even makes the solutions to fossil fuels more expensive.' This CB interview with Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson is really compelling, with numerous banger quotes about the transition.

A couple of examples of why 'Treasury costings' of opposition policies are *always* bollocks.

They are based on 'assumptions from Special Advisers' which are written to maximise the costings even if they are obvious nonsense.

(Thread)

I enjoyed reading this Tony Blair Institute report tonight - Tone Langengen and Hermione Dace are always interesting. But there are a couple of big points I disagree on which I think are worth setting out…

institute.global/insights/clima…