George Smeeton

Daily Mail amends electric car story after Yougov poll showed public could have been misled Polling on whether the public had been misled by a Daily Mail story forced press regulator IPSO to rethink rejection of electric car complaint

Amusing and enraging story of IPSO somehow concluding clearly misleading comparisons were not misleading, only for polling from @eciu.net to show readers were indeed misled. pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/new...

Tehran residents warned of acid rain after oil storage attack Iran’s Red Crescent Society tells locals to avoid exposure as capital is engulfed in smoke

Tehran residents warned of acid rain after oil storage attack ft.trib.al/1vHcns1

Qatar warns war will force Gulf to stop energy exports within weeks Gas producer says it will take ‘weeks to months’ to restore deliveries after Iranian drone strike

Qatar warns war will force Gulf to stop energy exports within weeks ft.trib.al/JQxKy5e

How the war in Iran is pushing up petrol prices - and boosting the case for EVs The escalating conflict in the Middle East could push up UK petrol prices by hundreds of pounds a year for the average driver, further enhancing the savings on offer for EV drivers

EV drivers about to enjoy even more substantial financial savings (although this will come as very cold comfort if oil prices do soar past $120 a barrel and trigger full blown economic crisis). www.businessgreen.com/news-analysi...

Exclusive: Qatar shuts gas liquefaction, will take weeks to restart, sources say Qatar will fully shut down gas liquefaction ​on Wednesday and won't be ‌able to return to normal production and export levels of super-chilled gas for ​at least a month, two ​sources familiar with the...

Qatar to fully shut down gas liquefaction and won't be ‌able to return to normal production and export levels of super-chilled gas for ​at least a month:

www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Breaking: China's official statistics report a 0.3% drop in CO2 emissions from energy&industry in 2025, the third time that annual emissions have fallen this century and the first fall predominantly driven by clean energy growth. 🧵

NEW STUDY: Winter downpours are getting heavier in parts of Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the region recovers from a month of relentless storms.

Between mid-January and mid-February nine named storms brought torrential rain hurricane force winds causing major damage and disruption. 1/5

Earth's heat to produce electricity for homes in UK clean energy first Water super-heated by rocks will also provide the UK's first domestic supply of the critical mineral lithium.

UK's first geothermal power plant set to go live in Cornwall.

Plant will also provide the UK's first domestic supply of lithium, crucial for green technologies such as batteries:

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

ONS: UK's low carbon and clean energy sectors generate record revenues of £77bn in 2024 Impressive growth in turnover and employment continues across the UK's low carbon and renewable energy industries, latest Office for National Statistics data confirms

New ONS stats out on the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (the thing Farage wants to destroy):

- 2024 revenues up 12% to £77bn (in an economy that grew 1.1%)
- Revenues up by more than 91% since 2015
- Employment up by over 50% since 2015 at over 300k

www.businessgreen.com/news/4526135...

‘Tinderbox’ UK may be one shock away from food riots, experts say Weakened food security could tip into unrest after a cyber-attack, extreme weather or conflict, analysis finds

One shock could spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK, according to dozens of the country’s top food experts, because chronic issues have left the food system a “tinderbox”:

www.theguardian.com/food/2026/fe...

British beef farmers face double hit from changing climate Relentless rain keeps cattle indoors, months after summer drought stopped them storing away enough hay for winter

British beef farmers face double blow from changing climate as relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors, after last summer’s drought stopped them storing away enough hay for the winter:

An extraordinary new column in the Daily Telegraph (no, that's not a typo!) by Ambrose Evans Pritchard.

Yes, it includes two charts by Carbon Brief, sure.

But stay for the concluding few paragraphs about the electoral suicide of climate denial...

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

France issues red flood alerts after ‘exceptional’ rainfall Aftermath of Storm Nils causes chaos across country with flooding under way or expected on Garonne, Maine and Loire rivers

France issues red flood alerts after ‘exceptional’ rainfall

Climate experts "have been warning us for a long time that events like this will happen more often - in fact, tomorrow has arrived”, says minister

#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

In today's environment newsletter I wrote about the rain. If you doubt global warming is real, just look out of the window.
link.thetimes.co.uk/view/61951ca...

China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies.

It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony

I’d say it runs into the tens of thousands, but no idea (also, where does London stop when it comes to commuter trains?)

Tony Blair’s oil lobbying is a misleading rehash of fossil fuel industry spin Ex-PM’s thinktank urges more drilling and fewer renewables, ignoring evidence that clean energy is cheaper and better for bills

Tony Blair’s oil lobbying is a misleading rehash of fossil fuel industry spin

- Ex-PM’s thinktank urges more drilling and fewer renewables, ignoring evidence that clean energy is cheaper and better for bills

#climatecrisis
By @fionaharvey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

FACTCHECK: Centrica's Chris O'Shea got blanket coverage for claiming electricity will cost more in 2030 than in energy crisis (Chris Stark: "he's wrong on this")

I asked Centrica for evidence – they didn’t reply

(Bills in crisis were >2x today, before huge govt subsidies)
1/4

Trump revokes landmark ruling that greenhouse gases endanger public health The White House calls it the largest deregulation in US history, but environmentalists say it will prove costly for Americans.

Trump administration reverses “endangerment finding” which states that a range of greenhouse gases are a threat to public health:

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

Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say Continued global heating could set irreversible course by triggering climate tipping points, but most people unaware

‘Point-of-no-return’: Lock-in of a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, warn scientists

- Continued global heating could set an irreversible course by triggering tipping points, but the public and politicians are largely unaware

#climatecrisis
Story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Breaking: China’s CO2 emissions fell by 1% in the final quarter of 2025, likely securing a decline of 0.3% for the full year as a whole. This extends a “flat or falling” trend in China’s CO2 emissions that began in March 2024 and has now lasted for nearly two years.

Trump to repeal Obama-era finding foundational to US climate rules Climate groups vow to fight rollback of 2009 finding determining CO2 and other greenhouse gases harm health

Trump administration set to roll back the endangerment finding determining CO2 and other greenhouse gases harm health:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

UK backs biggest English onshore windfarm in a decade among 190 green energy projects Government also offers contracts for record number of solar schemes as it aims to create clean electricity system by 2030

UK backs biggest English onshore windfarm in a decade among 190 green energy projects

- Government also offers contracts for record number of solar schemes as it aims to create clean electricity system by 2030

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

BREAKING: UK govt auction secures 4.9GW new solar at £65/MWh and 1.3GW new onshore wind at £72/MWh, 13% and 21% below the price cap respectively.

All due online by 2029.

Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings Disclosures show figures cited by authority’s leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papers

NEW: Reform UK’s flagship council, Kent, has been accused of telling a “blatant lie” after its claim of nearly £40m in savings on net zero were found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.

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

MPs warn of ‘catastrophic’ consequences if UK does not pause aid cuts In a report contributed to by The Independent, parliament’s international development select committee says the planned cuts are too deep and being pushed through too quickly

Plans to restructure Foreign Office and significantly slash UK’s aid budget are too deep in scale, being pushed through far too quickly, and could bring “catastrophic” consequences warn MPs:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

UK to cut climate finance to poor countries by a fifth despite promising more help Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from £11.9bn over past five years to £9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoods

UK plans to slash its aid to poor countries stricken by climate change by more than a fifth, despite promises to increase assistance and warnings from campaigners that the move will cost lives and livelihoods:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth

If China’s clean energy industry was a country, it would be the 8th biggest economy in the world

cf - China makes more from clean tech exports than US makes from fossil fuel exports

cf2 - China's Belt & Road project is bigger than US Marshall plan after WW2

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash.

Combined extreme weather disasters could wipe out national economies, experts warn:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Storms Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra see UK break records for wind power in January Record-breaking wind power generation cut gas costs by more than £160m in single month

Britain generated more wind power in January than in any month on record, as a succession of severe storms pushed turbines to produce 10.6TWh of electricity, analysis shows:

www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...