Also by christian

Can you balance coal power with forests? Not based on the research we've done, you can't.

Carbon offsetting seems deceptively simple. We know that we in the West need to cut our carbon emissions - the committee on climate change has said 80% by 2050 in the UK. That's going to be expensive and difficult say the naysayers - so here's an idea. Instead of getting rid of, say, coal-fired power stations, why don't we get the people who want to build them - the big energy companies - to pay for the carbon they're going to emit to be saved somewhere else?

How do you measure success? Many times, it’s difficult to point to one specific moment when a campaign delivers a big moment that demonstrates, beyond any doubt, that you've succeeded.

Well, our thanks go to E.ON for providing that moment for our coal campaign late last night – just as we were leaving the office, in fact. On my way to the pub, I met a press officer running back towards the front door – "E.ON have shelved Kingsnorth – just got to go and check if it's real, see you in a few…"

He never made it to the pub, because as the evening unfolded it became clear that E.ON were, indeed, after a three year public campaign, kicking their plans for the massively controversial coal plant into the long grass – which would have been the first to be built in Britain since Drax was completed more than 20 years ago.

A new report on the costs of adapting to climate change is a wake-up call to the rich world

There's a curious irony at the heart of climate change. We, that is, the rich countries, have largely caused the problem. But we aren't the one who are going to suffer the most because of it.

In fact, one of the main reasons we are as rich as we are is because we have burnt the most fossil fuels. Britain, for example, was the home of the largely-coal-powered Industrial revolution, and because we got an early lead on burning coal, we are not only relatively well off, we also lead the world in historical emissions. In total, throughout history, the British have emitted more carbon per head of population than anyone else.

With the economy stumbling, emissions are falling. Is this the moment of opportunity to take a deep breath and cut them for good?

In pretty big news, the FT have seen an early extract of an International Energy Agency report which says that due to the global recession, emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels are now actually falling.

We'll have to wait for the full report for the numbers, but since the start of the economic crisis emissions have undergone "a significant decline," says the IEA.