THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

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  This essay argues that the oil industry will lose the battle for the future. The growth it expects will not occur. The key issue is whether the world makes an orderly or disorderly transition to a carbon neutral energy system. An orderly transition preserves both the economy and the […]

Solar is set to transform the global energy market – Podcast – Today Program BBC Radio 07/04/2015

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                We have had a very inconsistent approach to renewables and deploying renewables in Britain. We are really starting to miss out and get left behind because of that inconsistency by government. It’s completely incoherent to complain about subsidies as the government did […]

OF NIGHTMARES AND PARROTS

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  This piece was first published in BusinessGreen       Let me introduce you to the mysterious world of triads. This is not, however, an article about the exotic world of Hong Kong’s ill-famed criminal gangs. This is about the much more prosaic world of managing electricity bills. Triads […]

Tusk – not as bad for climate as it first appears?

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  This piece first appeared on the E3G website                     The appointment of Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, to replace Van Rompuy as President of the European Council has provoked jitters within Europe’s environment community. No-one would ever have described Poland […]

THE POWER OF DREAMS

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    This piece first appeared in The Guardian on Thursday 10th July                 It has always been difficult to see what was attractive about the proposed deal with EDF to build a nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset. To bring this […]

THE FUTURE IS COMING READY OR NOT

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  The following speech talks about the looming collision between $6 trillion of investment in oil and gas over the next ten years and the agreement by governments to keep the rise in global temperature below 2°C. This collision will transform the human prospect. It poses a dilemma for governments […]

MAKERS AND TAKERS

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  This article first appeared in Business Green.        The public discourse on climate policy is asymmetric. It has been dominated by the climate makers. These are the fossil fuel industries and their customers. This has led to a badly distorted portrayal of climate policy risk. As a […]

Shale gas: four myths and a truth

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                                                Some argue that the solution to rising energy prices and energy security concerns lies not in cutting demand for energy imports by improving energy efficiency whilst […]

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

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    One of the less hysterical criticisms of Ed Miliband’s intention to freeze energy prices for 20 months has been to call it ‘unworkable’. This was the word  used by John Major when he intervened in the debate – ‘a bolt from the grey’ as one journalist called it. […]

Energy lobby insiders will lead cold war against Labour

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  By Damian Carrington and Terry Macalister – The Observer Sunday 6 October 2013                 Tom Burke, a former head of Friends of the Earth who worked as special adviser to several Conservative ministers, said: “The secondments are pernicious, but the real power […]