"Alok Sharma, the government minister responsible for vital UN climate talks, has been accused of undermining environmental efforts and failing to set an example after reports that he has flown to 30 countries in the past seven months."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/06/one-rule-for-them-alok-sharma-criticised-over-flights-to-30-countries

I'd say, give the man a free pass to do whatever it takes to bang heads together, in the run up to CoP26 November in Glasgow. Boris isn't lifting a finger because Climate gets no votes with his Little-England core. If they were both on the job, they'd do far more than 30 flights between them. Tho, flying to France and Belgium is ridiculous.

In The Future we Choose https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-future-we-choose-everyone-should-read-this-book-matt-haig/9781838770822 , Christina Figueres, UN Exec Sec for CC 2010-16 describes over and again the indispensability of her face-to-face persuasion of intransigent Presidents, Dictators, PMs around the world, to the miraculous success of the 2015 Paris Agreement. I don't hear much about what her successor Patricia espinosa https://unfccc.int/about-us/the-executive-secretary is doing. Anyone?

Meanwhile, Go Alok!

True, like Al Gore before him - who was also charged with hypocricy for his carbon footprint but can be forgiven because of game-changing impact, at the time.

An active and committed Boris would have a) done wonders for his world-statesman image (his what?) and b) done far more than Sharma can to make a success of UK's CoP26 moment in the limelight, having personally frittered the previous moment, G7.

I do know that - apologies. Who started calling <> carrot brackets - when ^ has been caret forever?

Posted By: fostertomTrue, like Al Gore before him - who was also charged with hypocricy for his carbon footprint

And Kerry doesn't have a pure green background either, neither in his personal dealings, nor in his belief that 50% of the carbon reductions needed will come from technologies that are yet to be invented. But does seem to understand the need for change.

Maybe we could have COP27 in Sweden with Greta in the chair.

Posted By: Mike1Maybe we could have COP27 in Sweden with Greta in the chair.

Posted By: fostertomWhat a fab idea!

Agreed, excellent idea but how do you get every country to (a) send one or more representatives, all of whom must be under twenty and (b) agree to commit to whatever those representatives agree?

Greta will be an old lady - what? 25? by then! Or she may well spend the next 10yrs going to university etc.

Sadly, it's not just the Grauniad that fits that description. I don't know of any paper that doesn't.

I have a hope/feeling that one of those moments of unprecedented change-of-heart (incl China, maybe India, but leaving Aus, Russia and Brazil (unless Lula gets in) as pariahs) will happen in the nick of time before CoP25. We shall see. IPCC6 Monday should be a big shock. Hopefully.

RHI might cover the difference between the gas boiler and an ASHP but the ASHP still has to be paid for up front along with any heating changes needed to cope with the low grade heat from the heat pump. And of course the ASHP has to be sited somewhere suitable which for a lot of houses I can see being a problem.

EVs might reach parity with ICE cars 'in a few years' but I'm not sure I would want a 10 year old EV car with its 10 year old battery - unless the cost of replacement batteries come down lots so I can see resale value being a drag on new EV sales. With over 40million cars in the UK and new car sales at about 2.3 million it will take a long time to convert. With the average age of cars in UK reported to be over 8 years old with 10 million over 13 years old I don't see the introduction of EVs doing too much to reduce carbon emissions and pollution in the short term much less saving the planet long term. (Oh and the average age of a car over here is about 14 years)

However a decent (cheapish) public transport system geared to support a typical life style e.g timed to avoid the 'Chelsea tractors' doing the school runs and biased around work times as it is over here could make a big difference - providing you can then get people to use it.

How far ahead are the plans in the UK to upgrade the grid to cope with thousands of heat pumps and EVs that are going to be needed to make any substantial difference to the carbon emissions?

Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryWith the average age of cars in UK reported to be over 8 years old with 10 million over 13 years old I don't see the introduction of EVs doing too much to reduce carbon emissions and pollution in the short term much less saving the planet long term. (Oh and the average age of a car over here is about 14 years)

Singapore got around this by simply requiring cars to be scrapped when they reached ten years old! Nothing to do with climate change; mostly economics I believe and maybe a little bit of increasing safety risks caused by poor maintenance.

However a decent (cheapish) public transport system geared to support a typical life style e.g timed to avoid the 'Chelsea tractors' doing the school runs and biased around work times as it is over here could make a big difference - providing you can then get people to use it.

I don't think that's the problem at all. People who could quite easily walk to school, or even cycle to school, simply don't and not necessarily through their choice but through their parents worrying about risks (accident, crime etc etc). Though in the country 'nearest school only' council-funded bus transport is pretty idiotic as well. When I was a lad, nobody thought anything about me and lots of others doing a twenty mile round trip bus journey and other kids doing similar distances on bicycles.

When I first read about Alok Sharma and his 30 countries-visits during the COVID pandemic my immediate reaction was "rather you than me mate" rather than the usual "one rule for them and another rule for us" as if such trips are some sort of a junket. I used to work for a multinational company as a project manager in the 90's/early 00's and for a few years I would say I averaged one flight per month to somewhere in Europe or USA (occasionally India too). The glamour soon wore off and it became a real drag. Imagine the same situation today if my boss decided that I should visit all these places during a pandemic - what a prospect!

Posted By: fostertomCop26 meeting is last chance, says Alok Sharma as he backs UK’s plan for new oil and gas fields

Plus (as I've previously mentioned) scrapping the Green Homes grant, continuing to allow the sale of peat, planning major road building schemes, freezing fuel duty, cutting electric car subsidies, allowing above-inflation railway ticket rises, helping Mathias Cormann become OECD boss, failing to meet their own tree-planting targets and - according to National Audit Office projections - expected to miss their climate change targets from 2023 to 2032. There is no credibility.

Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryEVs might reach parity with ICE cars 'in a few years' but I'm not sure I would want a 10 year old EV car with its 10 year old battery - unless the cost of replacement batteries come down lots so I can see resale value being a drag on new EV sales. With over 40million cars in the UK and new car sales at about 2.3 million it will take a long time to convert.

To this end the benefit in kind system is doing pretty well at boosting new EV sales to those who drive for work. Tesla model 3 was the top selling car in the uk last quarter so future second hand EVs are in the system. Tesla also have the best managed batteries so I'd happily buy an older one. For a local-run-around/second-car an old Leaf is now quite practical & economical (they have probably the simplest battery tech and have typically lost maybe 20% over 5-8 years).

Not sure about Hungary but England is pretty much perfect for EVs geographically/climate/density.

The biggest problem with cycling IMO is the weather - rain or the threat of rain puts many off.
When I was in the UK I used to cycle to work 12 miles each way (including Portsdown Hill for anyone who knows the Portsmouth area)
If it was raining in the morning I got in the car, rain in the evening was no problem as I didn't mind arriving home wet.

Posted By: WillInAberdeenNational Grid are "confident there is sufficient supply
to meet peak demand this winter" without the nuclear stations

Sorry, but where do they say that? I see "While we remain confident there is sufficient supply to meet peak demand" in one place and in another I see "We assumed that the rest of the nuclear fleet is available w ith an availability of 76%, based on the average of the last three winters". Is there somewhere else that contradicts the second quote?