Tom Lancaster

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

Welcome to the frontpage of the Daily Telegraph* website... * The newspaper that has relentlessly spent the past three decades seeking to belittle climate science and undermine climate action at every turn

++BREAKING++ The Daily Telegraph has... *rubs eyes* ...published something sensible about climate change: "I’m coming to the view that the Online Right is going wrong, eschewing compassion or charm, talking itself into corners of angry irrelevance. Take climate change."

The British public's support for climate action remains unbending, seemingly regardless of what the planet and political leaders throw at it. There have been near constant attacks on the UK's net zero policies. www.businessgreen.com/analysis/453...

FACTCHECK: A guide to manufacturing headlines, by the Times 1) highlight upfront costs of an “eco” home (EV, heat pump, solar) 2) pretend that petrol cars and gas boilers are free (yes really) 3) count upfront “eco” costs twice, for good measure 4) that’s it!

GB News gives its take on climate change. This is what a propaganda campaign looks like. Who'd have guessed that the GB News co-owner runs a hedge fund with massive investments in oil and gas? www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

UK's outgoing PM Keir Starmer tells parliament that climate change is "one of the most significant challenges of our time" and says it is a "shame" that the Conservatives have broken the cross-party consensus "in order to chase Reform votes"

NEW BLOG: Food Prices Won’t Come Back Down. Here’s How to Make Food More Affordable 📉 New @ECIU.net analysis shows that when food prices spike from climate or energy shocks, they drop just 1% six months later. Prices rocket up, but drift down like feathers. 🧵👇

Commenting on the publication of the first Land Use Framework for England, @tommlancaster.bsky.social, @eciu.net said: “Climate change is already reshaping food and farming in England, as well as much of our landscape." eciu.net/media/press...

Great to be on Radio 4's Farming Today early this morning to talk about the Land Use Framework: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (from 10:30m in). It's only a first step, but signficant land use change for nature and climate can have big upsides, including for upland communities.

There are some TRULY idiotic "I hate net-zero" takes on yday's OBR report, which set out long-term risks to govt finances It's right there in the report, but to repeat, OBR makes it crystal clear that climate action will be far less costly than inaction www.carbonbrief.org/...

☀️It’s been an exceptionally sunny & dry spring – what role is climate change playing? Dr Clair Barnes, an Imperial College climate scientist, explains the shifts in spring weather. And Colin Chappell, a farmer, lays out how these changes are impacting UK agriculture.

Yesterday, Ross Clark claimed in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social "The likely fall in the energy price cap will be purely a reaction to lower wholesale prices on international markets... it is simply markets at work" Is this the same Ross Clark who blames "net zero" every time bills go up? 🧵😂

The deal apparently includes 13,000 tonnes in tariff free beef access to the US for UK farmers, and 13,000 tonnes in tariff free beef access to the UK for US farmers. No one's standards change. By way of context the tariff free quota Australian beef gets into the US is 448,214 tonnes per annum.

FACTCHECK: Almost all the headlines on Tony Blair / net-zero are *wildly* inaccurate REALITY: 1️⃣Net-zero is *only way* to stop warming 2️⃣Blair calls for tech to "turbocharge our path to net-zero" 3️⃣He categorically *does not* say "net-zero is doomed to fail" 🧵 1/6

Thousands more people could die from overheating each year if Britain does not adapt to a warming world to avert “tomorrow’s disasters”, the UK government’s climate advisers have warned. @thecccuk.bsky.social says no sign Labour are taking climate adaptation more seriously than Tories

NEW: Who are the voters Labour risks losing to Reform? How might Lab unite them with the rest of its election winning coalition? How might Reform win them over? Some big new research out today with @persuasionuk.bsky.social as featured by @greenmirandahere.bsky.social in today's FT 🧵👇

A considerable amount of the Northern hemisphere's landmass has already warmed more than 2C since the industrial era. The cold blob in the North Atlantic is a telltale sign of a weakening AMOC current. Visual by @edhawkins.org

Great thread this If I was Prime Minister for the day and wanted people to feel a material improvement to their day-to-day, I’d throw what money I had at local government And not just at pot holes, but at stuff like the services that get drinkers and addicts off the streets

ICYM Solar panel push still won’t cover as much land as golf courses, even if the UK government's 2030 solar power goals are met www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

This is an, ahem, interesting piece from Jawad Iqbal in today's Times: "Miliband has in the past boasted about the previous Labour government’s decision to phase out coal power… Miliband claimed other countries would follow “our example”. Really? It seems highly unlikely." Here’s why he's wrong 🧵

Very important point. It's not green energy that is making UK electricity expensive: it's mostly gas

I've just caught up with Nick Robinson's interview with James Murray MP on #r4today. 1) Green energy isn't driving energy prices up. As Murray said, our high energy costs are down to reliance on foreign gas. We need *more* home grown renewables! Robinson seems keen to reopen UK coalmines... 1/

🚨Some major errors & misleading claims from experienced presenter Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4 Today, when discussing British Steel with Treasury Minister James Murray I hope these are corrected on tomorrow's programme, and Robinson sticks to the facts in future. Here's what he got wrong... 🧵

Would be sad if these went. Only been to Romania once but these haystacks across the landscape were one of the things that made the place special & different As this story points out, they're also important habitats for fauna and flora www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The foods in danger of disappearing from UK supermarket shelves within 10 years A weekly shop without coffee, chocolate or a joint of meat may seem unthinkable but consumer experts predict our changing climate could remove key products from supermarkets within a decade.

What's remarkable about Nick Robinson's discussion with Rishi Sunak about net zero is not just Sunak's lack of knowledge but that Robinson doesn't ask at all about climate change: do you know anything about it? What would you do about it? www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

But I thought nobody wants heat pumps? And they dOn'T wOrK iN tHe CoLd? Looks like misinfo isn't slowing growth in UK heat pumps Good, bc we can't have energy security with the status quo (gas boilers) & we can't have national security without energy security Heat pumps = national security

Denmark is  one of the world's largest meat producers, but they are also innovative leaders in decarbonizing food and farming. Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark tells @alexisconran.bsky.social how their approach is ‘more carrot, less stick’.

NEW: Official advisers CCC say UK shld cut emissions 87% by 2040 ⚖️Net cost of net-zero 73% less than thought 💷Total cost to 2050 = £108bn (~£4bn/yr, 0.2% GDP) 🏡🚗H’hold energy/fuel bills to fall £1,400 🔌Electrification is key THREAD + charts www.carbonbrief.org/... 1/10

The 7th carbon budget is a MASTERCLASS in avoiding a climate culture war, despite having to talk about flying and farming. Kudos to the team!

We have published our advice on the Seventh Carbon Budget. It is in line with previous Government commitments – the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Carbon Budgets, international commitments, and the Net Zero commitment in 2050.

I mean nobody thought a US/UK trade deal was on the cards because of chlorinated chicken. But the prospect must now have hit absolute zero.

Defra announces farmers in HLS scheme will see increased payments, and decision to re-open Capital Grants Offer, @tommlancaster.bsky.social, @eciu.net commented: “Farmers in the Higher Level Stewardship scheme are amongst those doing the most for climate and nature."eciu.net/media/press...

As a Liverpool fan, I still think Clive Darwell here could be right

This week's edition of Most Favoured Nation looks at the legal, semi-legal, and defintely not legal ways countries could abide by Donald Trump's demands to lower their tariffs on US exports. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/most-favou...

If you want to know why Vance meant everything he said yesterday, and why that's even more dangerous than it might appear, have a read of my post this week on the ideology behind Musk and Vance. "Technology vs Democracy" (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/technology...