… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: Jackdaw

  • Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/17/andy-burnham-uk-must-fully-commit-to-reaching-net-zero-by-2050

    Burnham: ‘I want Britain to believe in itself again.’ Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

    [Guardian] Exclusive: PM, who is facing pressure over whether to approve North Sea oil and gasfields, makes strongest comments yet on issue

    The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate.

    Writing for the Guardian about new plans for a mass of community-led local green energy projects, the prime minister said the UK must “believe in itself”, and set out his determination to reach net zero targets, which have been rejected by the Conservatives and Reform UK.

    The tone marks a contrast to the summer, when Burnham faced criticism for a seemingly muted response to the heatwaves, droughts and wildfires that affected the UK, with his main initiative being a ban on portable barbecues.

    “I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach net zero by 2050,” Burnham said. “I want Britain to believe in itself again.”

    Saying he wanted to connect local communities to green power projects – to reach net zero targets and make energy more affordable – Burnham said: “I am acutely aware that our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record.”

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/17/andy-burnham-uk-must-fully-commit-to-reaching-net-zero-by-2050

    Comment by dizzy: While this is very encouraging, it is unexpected and suggests a real change in direction. Burnham’s article seems far more restrained than the Guardian’s review leads us to believe, funding of £30m is nothing and it seems devolved rather than owned by his government. There’s a saying in UK and possibly elsewhere: The proof is in the pudding. It can be interpreted to mean wait and see what comes later.

    [18/9/26 I think that this is probably BS. We’ve seen Burnham & Co do it before with this

    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
    UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.

    where an announcement is made, it’s a delaying tactic and what happens months later falls hugely short of what we were led to believe.

    Specifically, it may well be BS to mislead and misdirect for the forthcoming Holborn and St. Pancras by-election where the Green Party’s Zack Polanski is a candidate, to give the impression that he cares about the climate and may not wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank, only then to wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank. Burnham’s statement is big on talk, commitments even but the actuality is minimal.]

    Andy Burnham: British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it

    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.

  • Jackdaw gasfield set to be approved by ministers this month, sources say

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/04/jackdaw-gasfield-set-to-be-approved-by-ministers-this-month-sources-say

    Climate activists protesting against the new fields. Consultations on Jackdaw and Rosebank closed last month. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

    Ministers are poised to approve a controversial new gasfield in the North Sea later this month, according to government sources, and are also likely to approve a major oilfield later this year.

    Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, will give her recommendation to approve the Jackdaw field off the coast of Aberdeen as soon as next week, according to people close to the decision, with the formal approval following as soon as a week after.

    She is also likely to approve the Rosebank mega-oilfield in the coming months, though officials are looking for ways to make sure the proceeds from that project go towards clean energy projects, as happens in Norway.

    Both projects have become emblematic of the government’s commitment to the North Sea, with green campaigners calling for them to be abandoned while the US president, Donald Trump, urges the prime minister to open them up.

    A spokesperson for the energy department said: “The North Sea remains a vital national asset, supporting jobs, growth and the UK’s energy security. We are clear that oil and gas will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come, alongside transitioning to clean power to protect jobs and tackle the climate crisis.”

    …

    The original article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/04/jackdaw-gasfield-set-to-be-approved-by-ministers-this-month-sources-say

    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London.
    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.

    dizzy: Nigel Farage and his Reform 2025 limited company pretending to be a political party are in the news today – their conference is on and there are concerns over dodgy donations yet again. Andy Burnham could take his place in this image … “We ignore the many examples of extreme weather made worse by climate change …”

  • Climate damage would obliterate any economic benefits of new North Sea fields, analysis shows

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/climate-damage-economy-north-sea-oil-gas-fields-rosebank-jackdaw

    The argument that approving Rosebank and Jackdaw would cut bills and improve energy security is a ‘delusion’, say experts. Photograph: James Willoughby/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

    Exclusive: Economic harm of CO2 pollution from Rosebank and Jackdaw forecast to far outweigh any boost to UK

    The climate damage caused by developing the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields under consideration by the UK government would destroy their economic benefits many times over, according to an analysis.

    It estimates the economic damage caused by the carbon pollution from the oil and gas produced would be between £119bn and £336bn in the coming decades, compared with the £28.7bn in value to the UK estimated by Adura, the fossil fuel company promoting the new fields.

    The assessment applies peer-reviewed research on how rising temperatures harm economies to the production estimates for the fields from the company. The figures are likely to be underestimates, as they do not include losses from amplified extreme weather, sea level rise or climate deaths. The analysis has been submitted to the Rosebank consultation and to an academic journal.

    …

    The argument that approving Rosebank and Jackdaw would reduce UK bills and improve energy security is a “delusion”, according to energy experts, as they are internationally traded commodities. Proponents of new drilling argue it would boost the UK economy, but the new analysis indicates this would be outweighed by long-term economic damage.

    “The numbers presented here show there’s going to be a very strong destruction of [economic] value above and beyond what Rosebank and Jackdaw could generate for the UK,” said Luke Hatton, at Imperial College London, who conducted the analysis. “The alternative is to really double down on clean energy technologies.” The UK’s net zero sector has grown three times faster than the overall UK economy in recent years.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/climate-damage-economy-north-sea-oil-gas-fields-rosebank-jackdaw

    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London.
    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)

  • From grey water to cool spaces: 10 climate crisis policies Britain needs right now

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    See the original Guardian article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/12/urgent-climate-policies-uk-should-implement-now

    A burned field of wheat in Eton Wick, Windsor, in July. Experts say the UK should regenerative agriculture approaches to increase food resilience. Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

    Rejecting North Sea drilling licences and protecting nature are just some measures Andy Burnham must implement to ready country

    From record-smashing temperatures, wildfires, hosepipe bans and thousands of premature deaths, the climate crisis has left its mark across the summer of 2026.

    Tackling the root cause – the burning of fossil fuels – and ending the crisis will take years. So will fixing the UK government’s calamitous failure to protect lives and livelihoods against the long-predicted affects of global heating.

    But the climate emergency is right here, right now, and here are 10 policies that Andy Burnham’s government should consider announcing urgently.

    1. Reject drilling licences for the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields

    This would be a vital and confidence-boosting sign that the UK is committed to putting a rocket-booster under the clean, green and very fast-growing economy of the 21st century, not the fossil-fuelled one of the last. It would also give diplomatic weight to the UK as it works internationally to cut emissions and end the climate crisis.

    The supposed benefits of approving the North Sea oil and gasfields are mostly fantasy. They will have no impact on UK energy prices – oil and gas are commodities whose price is set by international markets. As the UK Energy Research Council says: “Assertions that drilling the North Sea will provide energy resilience and affordability in the face of current fuel price shocks are a delusion.”

    As for jobs, the licences would support very few – again, unlike the growing green economy. Some also argue North Sea production is less carbon intensive than imports, but that ignores the far cleaner record of our main gas importer, Norway, as well as the methane emissions from LNG, and in any case the differences are small compared with CO2 savings of using renewable energy and storage instead of gas.

    2. Increase windfall tax on fossil fuel giants to pay for adaptation measures

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    3. Make grey water reuse mandatory in new buildings and incentivise rainwater harvesting

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    4. Bring the water industry under national control

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    5. Invest in proper equipment for firefighters

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    6. Implement a maximum workplace temperature

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    7. Fund cool spaces in every community

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    8. Launch a national retrofit programme

    Homes in the UK are among the draughtiest and least energy-efficient in Europe. This means they are often too hot in summer and too cold in winter, leading to high bills and spiralling carbon emissions.

    Efforts to persuade the private sector to take on the challenge of making homes fit for the changing climate have failed. But a report earlier this year suggested councils could take the lead on a retrofitting programme backed by national government. Under the plan, councils would train and employ their own retrofitting workforce and, starting with key public services such as hospitals and care homes, then work through council and social housing before moving on to privately owned homes. The report said it would not only make the country’s homes and public services more climate resilient, but it would also tackle the cost of living, create secure jobs and stimulate growth. They added it would also be a more efficient way of spending the public funds already allocated for insulation.

    9. Plant more trees and protect existing nature

    …

    10. Encourage regenerative agriculture approaches to increase food resilience

    …

    Guardian’s article is at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/12/urgent-climate-policies-uk-should-implement-now

    Andy Burnham addresses the climate crisis by considering banning disposable barbecues.
    Andy Burnham addresses the climate crisis by considering banning disposable barbecues.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.

    dizzy:

    11. Make private jets and superyachts history

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    12. Tax the rich so much that they’re not able to destroy the planet

    The rich hugely drive climate breakdown. Tax them out of existence.

    13. Recognise Carbon Capture and Storage as a false solution and abandon it

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    14. End all fossil fuel subsidies

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    15/8/26 9.50pm

    15. Abandon nuclear power

    Nuclear is far too expensive, too centralised and takes far too long. Renewables is the way to go and will create far more employment for more people.

  • Zack Polanski accuses Labour of ‘gross negligence’ for its failure to act over the heatwave crisis as the Government rejects his call to convene Cobra

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    Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
    Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

    As the consultation on Jackdaw, a major North sea oil and gas project ends, the Green Party leader calls out Prime Minister Burnham’s ‘weasel words’ on approval of more North Sea drilling and says it is a clear breach of Labour’s manifesto pledge.

    Last week, the Green leader called an emergency press conference to urge Andy Burnham to act, and was joined by a firefighter, a GP and an ex soldier, all outlining the devastating impact the climate crisis is having in their areas of public service. Sky News have reported that the Government has rejected his call for COBR to be reconvened, with the Government  ‘insisting supply chains are resilient’.

    Zack Polanski said,

    “We are now facing the fifth heatwave in months following the recent deaths of 3,000 people in our country from extreme weather conditions.”

    “This is the greatest crisis this country has faced since the Second World War and to complacently dismiss the demands for immediate action by saying everything is under control is gross negligence, blatantly untrue and misses the severity of the crisis”

    “Only days after dedicated public servants talked about the need for urgent action, backed up by indisputable science, to secure our food supplies and the health of the most vulnerable, the Labour government says it’s all in hand, and supply chains are resilient.”

    On the ending of the consultation for Jackdaw, Zack Polanski says,

    “In the midst of a heatwave fuelled by the climate crisis, the science is clear that more North Sea drilling would be a dereliction of duty by Labour. Whatever weasel words are used on drilling within new or existing licences, one of the new Prime Minister’s first significant decisions would be to break Labour’s manifesto pledge.

    “In their own analysis, Jackdaw’s owners have themselves said that only 27 direct full time jobs would be created if given the go ahead.

    “This has nothing to do with boosting the economy for the people of this country and far more to do with boosting obscene profits for fossil fuel companies and their shareholders.  I made clear in my press conference last week, that’s why this needs to be treated for the serious crisis it is, with financial support for homes to keep cool and for fossil fuel giants to pay the costs of extreme weather adaptation.”

    Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

    EXPANDED and UPDATED: Zack Polanski’s ‘reality check’ to the Prime Minister: act now on extreme heat emergency

    12/8/26 8.40am

    Burnham to chair Cobra meeting on extreme heat as temperatures surge again

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the UK’s response to the extreme heat, as temperatures are set to soar again.

    A No 10 spokesperson said the government understood firefighters, farmers and NHS staff were all facing challenges connected to the weather.

    This week’s latest heatwave comes as more areas in England were placed under drought status on Monday and firefighters continue to battle a significant wildfire in the New Forest in Hampshire.

    The Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning, external for Thursday, with temperatures peaking in the mid-to-high 30s across the Midlands and south-east of England, and a high of 38C possible

    It comes as the record for the number of days reaching 30C in any year in the UK has been broken, according to the Met Office, with Sunday the 35th day of the year so far.

    …

    Continues at Burnham to chair Cobra meeting on extreme heat as temperatures surge again