Laila Takeh

Whichever party wins the upcoming Election, the transition to net-zero is going to have to factor in their plans. But, in the short-term it will be costly and require co-ordination. This briefing, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and written by Patricia Sanchez Juanino analyses the current policy framework and looks at the options available to effectively handle the green transition. #ClimateChange #GeneralElection2024

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Political debate on #climate in this #election has been framed by the entry of Reform into the fray and Labour's electoral strategy, which understandably doesn't focus on winning over climate enthusiasts already likely to vote Labour. That's a shame given the scale and importance of the climate crisis but Labour's ambitions are perhaps more ambitious than people think. Becca MacSwiney unpicks this and outlines some of the unanswered questions that #Labour will need to address after the election, on everything from the National Wealth Fund to Great British Energy, both of which have huge transformational potential 💡🍃 🌍

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If The Labour Party wants to transform British energy, they need to focus on the grid, not generation. Here's my take, published in the Financial Times today. £200 billion of projects are waiting in the grid connection queue, which is 5 years delayed on average according to Ofgem and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Generation also only represents ~30-35% of electricity bills - costs from transmission and distribution are likely to increase, given significant upgrade requirements to accommodate renewables and electrification of transport and heat. Focusing on supporting nascent technologies, planning reforms and the grid could help far more than funding projects that private investors are already waiting to build. Subscribe for more updates from me on energy and ESG at https://lnkd.in/expN3mWH #GreatBritishEnergy https://lnkd.in/e74u7gqK

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As someone who is competitive by nature, I love a good league table – especially when the project I worked on is at the top. Volans worked with Unilever on its first Climate Policy Engagement Review and it’s now official that the review has set a new best practice. According to InfluenceMap’s assessment, it is the first such review to fully meet the expectations of The Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying, which is backed by investor groups such as Principles for Responsible Investment, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Ceres, Inc. and Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). What we need now is a race to the top. We’ve demonstrated it’s possible to score 100% for ‘robustness of corporate climate policy engagement review’, so I hope we’ll soon see more green at the top of this table. Who’s up for it? Danone Facundo Etchebehere Nestlé Rob Cameron Procter & Gamble Virginie Helias ... https://lnkd.in/eWZDJYp9

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It is great that the #UK Labour Party is committing to make up for the lost climate goal ground under the conservatives. 💪🏻 Carbon Brief has put together an excellent program. However, it is imperative that site abandonment, remediation, and reclamation of the #NorthSea well, pipeline, and facility sites be a PRIMARY goal to achieve a successful transition. We know we have leakage and sites that are producing when they need not be. Let’s see the oil and gas industries 2050 phase out plans in step with the Paris Agreement! 🙏🏻🤝 #ukpoli #worldpoli #cdnpoli #uspoli

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Grant funding opportunities: Net Zero As a key component of the Adopt & Accelerate programme (https://buff.ly/3JskJZC), they are pleased to offer grant funding designed to support the adoption of Net Zero innovations. This grant funding opportunity is offering UK-based SMEs the chance to become leading solution providers in tackling pressing environmental challenges. There are a series of Net Zero iX challenges with grants of up to £25,000 to collaborate directly with challenge holders, implementing net zero innovation solution. Please note that, in accordance with the iX process, all funding will be directed to solution providers. Think you might have the solution? They welcome innovators from all sectors including energy, water, food production, aerospace, manufacturing, bio-medicine, and many more. 💡 Engineering, AI & Robotics: Design modifications for scaling Direct Air Capture systems, integrating AI and robotics to optimise efficiency and reduce carbon footprint. 🔗 https://buff.ly/4d04xw1 💡 Green Energy & Manufacturing: Identify the best material and application process for sub-gaskets in novel hydrocarbon polymer membranes, aimed at advancing green hydrogen electrolysis. 🔗 https://buff.ly/3Q8E2dX 💡 Sustainable Horticulture: Design and deploy a pilot-scale hydrogel reactor system as a peat alternative, promoting low carbon horticulture. 🔗 https://buff.ly/44muYZb #netzero

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Is net zero and clean energy policy really a burden? Some politicians and ‘think tanks’ are casting action to shift to clean energy and to curb climate change in a negative light. This has come to the fore in the UK election campaign, but has built for a while. Like most social change, the energy transition is not like flicking a switch, and it’s not cost free, but casting it only as a cost burden when it is, and will be, a route to lower bills and to avoid rising costs linked to climate change-related disruption from more frequent and harsher storms, floods, excess heat, loss of soils, effects on infrastructure etc, is NOT being straight with the public. Yet, in 2023, Rishi Sunak cast energy and climate in a negative light, as “a burden” and that he wanted to be “honest with the public”, with “honesty, not obfuscation”, as well as “tough choices and sacrifices”. How “honest” is it to cast net zero so negatively when the evidence is that current policies are costing the UK and that these costs will rise unless things change rapidly? Mr Sunak’s then Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, also cast said climate action and progress to net zero are “a luxury belief” adding that “We’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people”. It is not clear how helping people in fuel poverty to avoid high bills and to keep warm in winter is a “luxury”. Ditto how a plan to avoid costs that come from letting climate-related heat, floods, storms etc to worsen. Labour cut its Green Prosperity Plan from c£28 to c5bn but that does not mean the UK will save money as costs of inaction will grow and will show up on the nation’s accounts. Now, Reform leader, Nigel Farage says he will scrap net zero entirely. Mr Farage says net zero means higher energy bills and scrapping them will save £30 billion a year over 25 years. Yet the UK’s low / zero energy policies have cost less than £9bn a year from 2021-23 (less than 0.5 per cent of UK GDP) according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Politicians who claim action to curb climate change will cost a lot rarely (never) say current energy policies and inaction on climate change are already costing us, and that the cost will rise. One study (see below) identifies the huge and growing cost to the UK of CURRENT inadequate energy and climate policies: - The cost of current policies: £24bn a year (1.1% of GDP) - In 2050: that will rise to 3.3% - In 2100: that will be £73bn a year (7.4% of GDP) The study says: “Many of the climate change impacts that the UK faces have the potential to create serious socioeconomic consequences” Reference: What will climate change cost the UK? May 2022, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Leeds, University of Leeds, University of Delaware

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The biodiversity crisis is deeply linked to the climate crisis. We cannot solve one without the other. Looking forward to this important discussion later today. You can still register to attend! #climatecrisis #biodiversity #climatechange

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Scotland is a nation that has long been engaged on climate and new research, published just weeks after the Scottish Government's potential climate rollback, shows that this is not changing 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🌍 🍃 The findings reveal distinct support for climate policies and a deep mistrust in the North Sea oil and gas industry - notably from the SNP voter base, which consistently proved to be among the most concerned around climate. 🛢 💰 North Sea oil and gas companies are widely considered to benefit more from extraction in the basin than Scotland itself does currently. 🌳 More than half of young people across Scotland want the government to introduce policies that will encourage green investment - such as ending new oil and gas licensing. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Just one fifth of respondents in the UK’s oil capital, Aberdeen, trust the industry to ensure that Scotland’s workers and communities benefit from the green transition. Read more in The Herald Scotland

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Does consumer action on climate matter? Are sustainable lifestyles a distraction? Since we published our Low Carbon Lifestyles guide last week I've had various comments brushing off consumer action as un-important compared to political or activist roles. I've got this my entire career, the prioritisation of the performative over the personal, of public action over private, and it's wrong on so many levels. Bluntly, it's sexist. Read my new Forbes blog on why you should respect consumer/lifestyle action if you respect women. LINK HERE - don’t know why preview isn’t working! https://lnkd.in/gjRTyQ2q

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"we need to put people at the heart of climate action" - CAST research confirms what many of us in the field know - transformative systems change can not happen without working on models of co-design and participatory decision-making. Ownership and agency is key for people to not just see themselves in the climate story - but to see their own power to have impact. #climate #communications #climateAction

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What's the business case for building sustainable choices into TV shows? Join me to discuss how ITV includes climate content in drama, reality, entertainment and more at the Climate Content summit at the Barbican today.

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This is an interesting piece by Karen Norton and the Carbonwise team that takes a look at the world of carbon footprint calculation.

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This all makes sense, but there's a point I'd like to add! This survey - https://lnkd.in/ev7v8yXx - shows that the UK public are much more likely to say they are "somewhat worried" (46%), rather than "very worried" (28%), about climate change. That fits with the impression one gets from surveys like these two: https://lnkd.in/eRgqhuTG and https://lnkd.in/eEPsgJRH. We Brits seem to support climate action, but nothing too drastic that imposes undue costs on us personally. Yet I'm not suggesting we're a nation of hypocrites! A much more likely explanation is that people support climate action but STILL haven't really grasped the scale of the emergency. That leaves me questioning our "don't scare people off" strategy. I fully appreciate the reasons for it: 'doom and gloom' messaging is really alienating. But I wonder if we need something more if we're to build a mandate for the much faster pace of change that the climate crisis demands?

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On behalf of Carbon Re, I have signed an open letter to Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak calling for policies to accelerate UK ClimateTech to be prioritised under the next government. The letter was written by Startup Coalition and ClimateImpact and signed by over 180 ClimateTech leaders. Whoever wins on 4 July must prioritise #ClimateTech innovation - it is an environmental and economic imperative. https://lnkd.in/emQJsQJK

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"Emissions from digital products accounted for 3.8% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 In 2040, digital emissions are estimated to increase to 14%. If YouTube reduced unused images and started audio-only streaming for videos of just music, they could save 500,000 tons of CO2. That’s more greenhouse gas reduction than if they switched their servers to renewable energies." For my former colleagues in the digital product world, if you haven't already done this, here's a way for your teams to be informed on how to make better decisions regarding sustainability and design choices: https://lnkd.in/es9wPjYr https://lnkd.in/eeZAc66q cc: Chris Orr-Van Abbema Arif Mansuri Chris Gokiert Andrew Kirby James Ayres Rachel Noonan Michelle Toomey Richard Kanee Jonah Morris Edouard Ratiarson #passiton

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This analysis of UK climate policy has caused a bit of a stir today - the Daily Mail no less! It's actually worth a proper read. In the doc my tremendous Tony Blair Institute for Global Change colleagues Tone Langengen, Hermione Dace and Lindy Fursman say it's time to get real. Targets for net zero play their part and remind us of the urgency of the task, but we're well past the point at which it's really action not targets that matter. And while the UK, like every other country, needs to control its emissions as a contribution to the global total, we also need to do more to support the technology and finance to help progress elsewhere. Right now there is a danger we achieve neither. There's still an opportunity to recover that delivery gap, but shouting louder and louder about targets will not do the trick. Do have a read and let us know what you think!

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Why isn’t this a climate election? I’ve been wondering this exact thought these last few weeks. With the obvious exception of the Green Party of England and Wales none of the main policitical manifestos is majoring on how we take urgent action on our fast-changing climate and all its myriad economic and sociology-political impacts (migration, human health, cost of food, cost of energy anyone?). The almost total lack of political debate on this topic, and farcical notion that we can magic yet more economic growth and wealth creation whilst continuing the exhaust the very means by which we can subsist (our beautiful planet) is pure fantasy. It seems our politicians are less concerned about our existential crisis than the electorate. If you care about our planet and think these issues should be higher up the political agenda, write to your local MP or sign up to Greenpeace ‘s Climate Pledge to show politicians #climate is a top voting issue. (Link in comments). #ukelection #climatecrisis #climatepolitics #climatepledge #climateaction https://lnkd.in/eqe6jeae

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Inspiring and brilliant video, and quite relevant for us in the Philippines given our new #ecosystem and #natural capital accounting law! It's about time we factor in nature in mainstream economics. #PayForWhatWeUse #DasguptaReview #NYT

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