Also by bex

Miliband's new department - what does it mean for the climate?

Posted by bex - 3 October 2008 at 3:15pm - Comments

Ed Miliband by Christian Guthier

Ed Miliband (image by Christian Guthier, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Big news from this morning's Cabinet reshuffle: Gordon Brown has created a new department for climate change and energy, and Ed Miliband has been appointed its head.

This is, potentially, fantastic stuff. Until now, one department has been dealing with climate change and another - the department for business (DBERR) - with energy. This entirely nonsensical division hamstrung any chances of a coherent, low carbon energy policy and kept business and environmental interests at perpetual loggerheads. No prizes for guessing who usually won.

How to fix the UK's renewables strategy

Posted by bex - 3 October 2008 at 10:18am - Comments

Samsoe

Given that we have the best renewable resources in the European Union, the fact that Britain languishes near the bottom of the European renewables league table is pretty humiliating.

On Monday though, the International Energy Agency added insult to injury. Britain's renewables strategy, it said, is 'ineffective' and 'very expensive'. The agency's new report (published here, but you have to pay) ranks Britain 31st out of 35 countries - "including all the major industrial nations such as the US, Germany and China" - in its green energy cost league. And our 'renewables effectiveness', it says, is a paltry three per cent.

End of a short-haul era?

Posted by bex - 1 October 2008 at 4:10pm - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers at Newquay

Greenpeace volunteers at Newquay airport in March 2007

You might remember that, 18 months ago, we set up ticket exchanges at airports across the country, and called on British Airways to show genuine leadership instead of launching new, unnecessary short haul routes that just add to the huge threat to our climate caused by runaway aviation growth.

Turkish investors turn away from nuclear

Posted by bex - 30 September 2008 at 12:07pm - Comments

Interesting news from our colleagues in Turkey, where 37 activists from Greenpeace and Global Action Group were arrested after protesting against nuclear energy last week.

The Turkish government has been busily trying to find a supplier for its first (of many, potentially) nuclear plant. But the plans have been stopped dead by... investors. Of the six companies supposedly interested in the contract, only one made a bid. And, without competition, Turkish law prevents the government from issuing the tender for a new nuclear plant.

Read more on Nuclear Reaction

Trains, planes and Tory party policy

Posted by bex - 29 September 2008 at 11:52am - Comments

Yes!

Greenpeace saying Yes to the new high speed rail link to Europe last November © Rose/Greenpeace

We've been hearing likely sounding noises for a while now but today, the Conservatives have formally announced that they'd say no to a third runway at Heathrow, and yes to a high speed rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds instead.

And so I find myself a bit befuddled to be wholeheartedly agreeing with a Tory party spokesperson, Theresa Villiers. She said:

The (Not Very) Weekly Geek: Wave power

Posted by bex - 29 September 2008 at 11:48am - Comments

EfficienCity - wave power

A screengrab from our virtual, climate-friendly town, EfficienCity

With the UK government apparently bending over backwards to stop renewable energy development at the moment, it's refreshing to hear some good news from elsewhere in Europe; the world's first commercial wave power farm has gone live in Portugal.

Roundup: Kingsnorth in the news

Posted by bex - 26 September 2008 at 11:12am - Comments

Kingsnorth

There are a few interesting stories about Kingsnorth on the web today:

The Independent reveals that the cabinet is split over the Kingsnorth decision: "John Hutton, the Business Secretary, wants to approve the project even if it is not chosen for an experiment in which its carbon emissions would be "captured" and stored under the sea. But his position is strongly opposed by Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, and his predecessor David Miliband, now the foreign secretary."

Across the pond meanwhile, Al Gore has renewed his call for young people to engage in civil disobedience over new coal plants, saying: "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration".

Last but by no means least, the Kingsnorth Six have made it into the New York Times. Happy reading.

UK sabotages European renewables deal - again

Posted by bex - 26 September 2008 at 10:06am - Comments

Solar panels

Just under a year ago, we revealed that Gordon Brown was planning to scupper the vital, and binding, European climate change deal to generate 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

A brouhaha ensued; EU leaders were so furious at the UK's underhanded shenanigans that a red-faced Brown had to explicitly re-commit to the target soon afterwards.

Well, leaked documents (pdf) show it's happened again. This time, the man weilding the wrecking ball is John Hutton, the Business Secretary with an inordinate fondness for coal and nuclear power.

Rhetoric vs reality

Posted by bex - 24 September 2008 at 10:44am - Comments

Yesterday: "I want British companies and British workers to seize the opportunity and lead the world in the transformation to a low carbon economy and I believe that we can create in modern green manufacturing and service one million new jobs" - Gordon Brown.

Today: British Energy is sold to French nuclear company EDF for £12.5 billion, exporting thousands of potential UK jobs to France, dealing a hammer blow to our chances of meeting our legally binding Renewables Obligation. 

Greenpeace podcast: behind the scenes at the Kingsnorth Trial

Posted by bex - 24 September 2008 at 10:21am - Comments

In this special edition of our podcast, we take a behind the scenes look at the extraordinary events that have already gone down in legend here at the Greenpeace office. This month, six Greenpeace activists were acquitted of causing criminal damage to Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, because they were acting to prevent greater damage caused by climate change. The verdict has been hailed by some of the world's more hysterical media pundits as the official start of a state of anarchy in the UK.

I spent ten days with the defendants, finding out what was really happening, and how they were coping with the emotion, stress and drama of being at the centre of it all.

Download this podcast

You can also listen to it right now - just click the play button below.

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes | Google Reader | My Yahoo!

You can also subscribe by email to receive an alert when a new episode is published.

Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

The Kingsnorth trial »
Meet the defendants »
Witness statements in full »
The case against coal »
Closing the energy gap »
The real solution »

Follow Greenpeace UK