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Simon Evans

@drsimevans.bsky.social

3721 followers 1091 following 353 posts

Press Gazette energy & environment journalist of the year 2022

Deputy Editor + Senior Policy Editor Carbon Brief

bsky.app/profile/carbonbrief.org
carbonbrief.org

simon.evans@carbonbrief.org

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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FACTCHECK: Almost everything Reform Party and its leader
Richard Tice say about climate and energy is wrong

On BBC Breakfast, Tice blamed volcanoes for warming

And Reform's manifesto packed 30 false or misleading statements into 500-words on energy/env

theguardian.com/environment/...

2 replies 17 reposts 29 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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EROI latest: "Wind and solar found to have higher energy returns than fossil fuels"

"A key issue in net energy analysis is the omission of…end-use efficiencies…these effects strongly favour the energy returns of wind and solar"

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1 replies 19 reposts 40 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Katharine Hayhoe's avatar Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com
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I am a climate scientist + I do not consider myself as an expert on the most effective actions we can take. Instead, I look to the social science to answer that question, based on their analyses, and as you'd imagine, their list is a bit different. #1 is up there, #2 not so much. (see below)

6 replies 46 reposts 118 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Truly grim reading: How key climate indicators have changed since IPCC AR6 WGI in 2021

🌡️Decadal warming at 1.19C, up from 1.09C
🛰️CO2 at 419ppm, up from 410ppm
🏭Emissions at 54GtCO2e, up from 53
📉Remaining carbon budget 150Gt, down from 500

essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es...

3 replies 30 reposts 36 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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💥Wind & solar are "fastest-growing electricity sources in history" – new Ember report

⛰️They're growing faster than demand: Peak fossil fuel power in 2024 – then "inevitable" decline

🏭They already shaved 22% off fossil power, saving 4GtCO2/yr

www.carbonbrief.org/wind-and-sol...

2 replies 28 reposts 88 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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NEW CHART: How British electricity supplies are shifting decisively away from fossil fuels

Super pleased with this very beautiful graphic, by my colleague Tom Pearson and reminiscent of Joy Division's iconic “Unknown Pleasures” album cover

www.carbonbrief.org/chart-how-br...

4 replies 33 reposts 74 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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While "zero carbon operation" for 30mins will be a big milestone, it's only 1 step twds govt goal of fully decarbonised grid by 2035

Our analysis shows key need for low-carbon subs for gas, which still regularly meets 50+% of demand

5/ends

carbonbrief.org/analysis-fos...

0 replies 3 reposts 7 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Key to running the grid without fossil fuels is a range of technical changes in how NGESO operates, inc whizzy new kit that has already come online for fossil-free "inertia" + other grid stability services

4/

carbonbrief.org/analysis-fos...

1 replies 2 reposts 5 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Fossil fuel low of 2.4% only lasted an 1hr, but is sign of things to come as NGESO works twd 2025 goal of "zero carbon operation" for at least 30mins NGESO tells me that "groundbreaking and pretty much world leading" moment is likely to come next autumn 3/

1 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Fossil fuels are now regularly meeting less than 10% of daily British electricity demand, hitting a record-low daily average of 6.4% on April 2024

This illustrates the seismic changes going on in the GB electricity system over the past 10-15yrs

2/

carbonbrief.org/analysis-fos...

1 replies 7 reposts 21 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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NEW ANALYSIS

⛰️🔥Fossil fuels fell to a record-low 2.4% share of British electricity, for 1hr, earlier this month
📉Until 2022, it'd never been below 5%
📊Record 75 half hrs below 5% in 2024ytd
🎯Grid manager NGESO says its on track for 0% next yr

1/
carbonbrief.org/analysis-fos...

1 replies 19 reposts 30 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Startling Global Energy Monitor chart showing China was responsible for 95% of new coal construction in 2023

70.2GW of new capacity started in China…
…3.7GW in the rest of the world, a record low

www.carbonbrief.org/china-respon...

0 replies 6 reposts 18 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Reuters: Top corporate stds group SBTi "in turmoil" after board greenlights offsets for "scope 3" emissions

"staff accused leadership of acting without sound scientific basis, throwing the group…[a] leading arbiter of how companies set climate targets…into turmoil"

www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

1 replies 6 reposts 8 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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View of the Sizewell nuclear site, from my morning run up the Suffolk Coastal Path on Easter break Left to right: Sizewell A (grey, retired) Sizewell B (blue/white, operational) Sizewell C? (large, heavily fortified patch of mud) Was surprised how close you can get (!)

1 replies 2 reposts 5 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Hugely important findings for heat electrification: Hourly gas data proves peak heat demand is far lower than previously thought

"domestic peak heat demand in GB can be up to 149GW, which is up to 53% less than previously widely cited values"

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

1 replies 14 reposts 30 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Jan Rosenow's avatar Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social
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MEGA FACTCHECK: Heat pumps are central for the transition to sustainable heating. But heat pumps face relentless hostile media coverage. I comprehensively debunked 18 heat pump myths in Carbon Brief. Find it here 👉www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-18-misleading-myths-about-heat-pumps/

2 replies 74 reposts 143 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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BREAKING

UK govt consults on delaying Clean Heat Market Mechanism by 1yr, with start date of 1 April 2025

Comes after media reports suggested govt might ditch policy altogether

No change to 6%-of-sales heat pump goal for 2025/26 or other details

www.gov.uk/government/c...

0 replies 4 reposts 6 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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EV sales are "bombing" latest 1.9m EVs sold globally in 2024 to date, up from 1.5m last year +32% increase in global sales +34% China +33% US/Canada +21% EU/EFTA/UK …according to Rho Motion

0 replies 4 reposts 22 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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This terrifying FT chart paints my lifetime in the inexorably rising colours of global warming Eyeballing, it looks like, what, 0.75C of warming since the 1980s? And just look at the way the coolest months in the 2020s are mostly hotter than the hottest of the 1980s!

0 replies 52 reposts 76 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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The £800m pot for the UK's next offshore wind auction would only be enough for 3GW of new capacity at the price cap of £73/MWh (2012 prices), but could secure nealry 6GW at £50/MWh More in our budget summary

carbonbrief.org/uk-spring-bu...

0 replies 5 reposts 5 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Michael Paulauski's avatar Michael Paulauski @mike10010100.bsky.social
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A rare Thread Of Hope in a dark time, read on for some incredible clean energy graphs and fight off the Climate Doomerism.

3 replies 9 reposts 18 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Duncan Gibb's avatar Duncan Gibb @duncangibb.net
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When I worked at REN21 and we saw the growth of renewables (in final energy), it looked good and was accelerating. But it was never enough to cover the overall increase in energy demand. It was just displacing fossil fuels. This shows that we're getting ever-closer to no fossil growth at all.

1 replies 3 reposts 14 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Marion Davis 's avatar Marion Davis @marionsd.bsky.social
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Great 🧵 on new IEA data with genuinely good news about clean energy. Clear message for the "We won't move till China does" crew, too. #energy #climate

0 replies 2 reposts 3 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Alison Tomlin's avatar Alison Tomlin @alisontomlin.bsky.social
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V Interesting. Superficially consensus decision processes would appear as inclusive & collaborative; coming out of participatory democratic processes used in civil rights, peace, movements. But perhaps they've allowed lobbyists to slow/water down climate decisions, esp in areas like coal phase out.

0 replies 3 reposts 2 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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Why do UN climate summits work by consensus?

Fascinating backstory from Jo Depledge

"disagreement over decision-making rules has its origins…in the deliberate strategy of obstructionist forces aiming to weaken intergovernmental response to climate change"

www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-t...

0 replies 9 reposts 16 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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11/ China’s per capita CO2 emissions are now higher than in the EU or Japan, and they’re catching up on the US, where per capita emissions are falling

1 replies 5 reposts 16 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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10/ Most of the rise in China’s emissions in 2023 was due to economic growth, but post-Covid rebound and very weak hydro output also played major roles

1 replies 4 reposts 14 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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9/ Most of the fall in EU emissions in 2023 was for “good” reasons (more renewables, more nuclear) rather than “bad” reasons (weak industrial outlook)

1 replies 3 reposts 19 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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8/ Rich country CO2 emissions are the lowest since the 1970s

2 replies 5 reposts 19 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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7/ Rich country coal use is now the lowest it’s been since around 1900, barring a brief dip for the Great Depression

1 replies 12 reposts 58 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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6/ Clean energy deployed in China has avoided (a lot) more emissions than in any other country

2 replies 14 reposts 51 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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5/ Clean energy deployment over the past 5yrs avoided 2.2bn tonnes of CO2 Without clean energy deployment, the increase in CO2 emissions in 2023 would have been 3x larger (!)

1 replies 18 reposts 54 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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4/ Clean energy deployment over the past five years has offset… …coal demand equivalent to entire G7 demand …gas equiv pre-invasion EU imports from RU …oil equiv UK demand

2 replies 8 reposts 43 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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3/ Clean energy deployment surged in 2023 (but nuclear and heat pumps stumbled) Deployment growth vs 2022 +85% solar +60% wind -30% nuclear +35% EVs -3% heat pumps +360% electrolysers

1 replies 15 reposts 49 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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2/ Global CO2 emissions rose again in 2023, but clean energy is slowing that growth like never before

1 replies 20 reposts 84 likes

Simon Evans's avatar Simon Evans @drsimevans.bsky.social
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The IEA just published two fascinating reports Here are some of the best charts 1/ Clean energy is growing twice as fast as fossil fuels

6 replies 107 reposts 220 likes

Reposted by Simon Evans

Luciana Téllez Chávez's avatar Luciana Téllez Chávez @lucianatellez.bsky.social
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Human Rights Watch just released a 118pp report on rights abuses at one of the world’s largest REDD+ projects. We documented a flawed consultation process, forced evictions, and arbitrary arrests. Verra should ensure accountability and remedies for victims. www.hrw.org/news/2024/02...

2 replies 18 reposts 21 likes