Issues discussed on today’s Daily Climate Show include…
- It is understood the UK Government is looking to introduce a new green tax. They are due to publish their ‘Heat and Buildings Strategy’ in the next few weeks. It is believed that strategy will contain details of a new levy on gas to help equalise costs with electricity for air source heat pumps which the Government wants to see replace gas boilers.
- In an interview with a Sky News reporter US Climate Envoy John Kerry said that the strained relations between the US and China is making negotiations on climate targets more difficult. He also said he was impressed by Boris Johnson’s statements in advance of COP26 but it will be the ‘doing’ that will determine how people will judge the outcome of COP26.
- 39 people have been arrested after Insulate Britain protestors blocked motorways for the 10th day. Insulate Britain say they will continue their actions until the Government introduces a firm plan to insulate all of Britain’s 29 million homes.
- The Green Party has elected Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay as new co-leaders.
- The Queen and Prince of Wales have planted a tree at Balmoral at the start of the tree planting season for the Queen’s Green Canopy campaign to encourage people to plant trees to celebrate the Queen’s 70 year platinum jubilee in 2022 – ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’.
- The Climate Change Committee‘s projections show that electricity demand in the UK will triple by 2050 to meet all the electrification targets for the country. To help get more of that electricity from renewable sources the world’s longest undersea inconnector has been laid across the North Sea to bring hydropower generated electricity from Norway to the UK. The electricity imported via this new interconnector in Northumberland will be enough to power 1.4 million homes and will reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions by 23 million tons by 2030.
Presenter Sally Lockwood was joined by guests David Wallace Wells, Editor-at-large of New York Magazine, and Alice Aedy, Co-founder of Earthrise, to discuss some of these issues, and also climate anxiety.