Daily Archives: 28 October 2025

Wind power has cut £104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/wind-power-cut-uk-energy-costs-ucl-study

Surging renewable energy generation across Europe has lowered gas demand and prices, researchers say. Photograph: John Keeble/Getty Images

Reduction comes from energy generated from windfarms and lower cost of gas owing to lower demand

Wind power has cut at least £104bn from energy costs in the UK since 2010, a study has found.

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Surging renewable energy generation across Europe made demand for gas – and thus gas prices – lower than they would otherwise have been, and meant electricity companies had less need to build costly new gas-fired power stations, according to the analysis. The way that the UK’s energy market works also means gas-fired power stations are in effect allowed to set the price of electricity.

The analysis applied to 2010-23, leaving out the lingering impacts of the leap in gas prices in early 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Colm O’Shea, a former hedge fund manager, now a master’s student at UCL and lead author of the report, said: “Far from being a financial burden, this study demonstrates how wind generation has consistently delivered substantial financial benefits to the UK. To put it into context, this net benefit of £104bn is larger than the additional £90bn the UK has spent on gas since 2021 as a result of rising prices related to the war in Ukraine.

“This study demonstrates why we should reframe our understanding of green investment from costly environmental subsidy to a high-return national investment.”

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Ana Musat, the director of policy at RenewableUK, the trade body for the wind sector, said: “This research highlights the long-term economic benefits for UK plc of investing in renewable energy generation. The only way to reduce energy costs for good is to minimise our exposure to volatile global fossil fuel prices and increase the share of electricity generation from clean homegrown sources.”

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Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/wind-power-cut-uk-energy-costs-ucl-study dizzy: The article addresses many different issues about wind generation.

Continue ReadingWind power has cut £104bn from UK energy costs since 2010, study finds

World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/worlds-climate-plans-fall-drastically-short-of-action-needed-analysis-shows

A wildfire in an area of Brasília national park in 2024. Heads of government will meet in Brazil next week to discuss the climate crisis before the Cop30 summit in November. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed

Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.

More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.

Taken together, these plans would cut carbon by only about 10% by 2035 compared with 2019 levels. This is only about a sixth of the drop in global emissions needed to limit global heating to 1.5C.

Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate official, said: “Countries are making progress and laying out clear stepping stones towards net zero emissions. We also know that change is not linear, and some countries have a history of overdelivering.”

But progress was not happening fast enough, he added. “We have a serious need for more speed and for helping countries take stronger climate actions. That acceleration must start now.”

The UN published its assessment of national plans – known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the 2015 Paris climate agreement – on Tuesday, but those of several significant countries were missing. China and the EU have yet to detail their NDCs, though they have made announcements indicating their emissions-cutting targets.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/28/worlds-climate-plans-fall-drastically-short-of-action-needed-analysis-shows

Continue ReadingWorld’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows

Green Party leader criticises nuclear reactor plan

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98np768g92o

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said money would be better spent on renewable energy

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has criticised government plans to build a new generation of nuclear reactors, calling it old technology that is like “creating a fax machine”.

Centrica and US firm X-energy aim to create up to 2,500 jobs in Hartlepool by building 12 new advanced modular nuclear reactors.

Polanski said it was technology “from a long time ago” and that money would be better spent on wind and solar power, which could deliver thousands of jobs.

Labour MP for Hartlepool Jonathan Brash said the technology was being pioneered in the United States and that the companies were also working with schools and colleges to recruit a local workforce.

The nuclear site will be developed next to the town’s existing nuclear power station, which is set to be decommissioned in 2028.

The government previously said that the deal could secure the next 50 years of clean, homegrown energy and that it “marks the dawn of a new golden age for British nuclear”.

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Firms that donated to Labour handed £138m in contracts

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/firms-donated-labour-handed-ps138m-contracts

 A view of, £5, £10, £20 and £50 bank notes

EIGHT firms that recently donated to the Labour Party were awarded contracts worth close to £138 million within the first year of Sir Keir Starmer’s government, researchers revealed today.

Their report, for the Autonomy Institute think tank, found that the firms’ donations, totalling £580,000, were tiny compared with the multimillion-pound public contracts they received.

Among them were accounting firm PwC UK, which had donated £236,000 since 2022 and been awarded £67m in contracts, and business consultancy Baringa Partners, which had given £30,000 since last year and signed deals worth £35m.

The trend carries on from the previous Tory government. Looking at May 2015 until last July, the report identified 29 companies which had donated £11m to the Conservative Party and then received contracts worth £2.3 billion.

These included Covid testing firm Randox Laboratories, which took £132.4m in contracts after donating £44,000, and consultancy KPMG, which secured £236m in deals after donating £170,000.

The report found that since 2000, for every £1 donated by a “giver and taker” company, they were awarded £1,294 in public contracts.

It describes the relationship between donations and government contracts as a “cause of concern for democratic governance, raising questions for transparency, accountability, and public trust” and calls for a ban on public contracts for firms that have made donations over the last decade.

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Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/firms-donated-labour-handed-ps138m-contracts

Keir Starmer commits to restore honesty and integrity to politics and whores out access to all areas of Number 10 to a huge donor.
Keir Starmer commits to restore honesty and integrity to politics and whores out access to all areas of Number 10 to a huge donor.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.

Continue ReadingFirms that donated to Labour handed £138m in contracts