Blog


Is the Nuclear Industry the Least Innovative Industry in the World?

Today sees the publication of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. As a long-term and very engaged participant in the nuclear debate, I’ve absorbed each WNISR with careful attention – and huge admiration. The quality of the research and the level of detail is astonishing, and because…

Read More

‘The World We Made’ – Amplifying the Upside

It gets weirder and weirder sitting here in the UK watching our Government systematically destroy the UK renewables industry, knowing that in almost every other country all the signals for the alternative renewables / efficiency / storage model are stronger than ever. Indeed, the world is awash…

Read More

The Slow but Assured Death of UK Renewables

Things go from bad to worse on the renewable energy front. 1.  Even those who are accustomed to George Osborne’s hostility to the renewables industry were astonished by his announcement in the Budget on Wednesday that renewable energy would no longer be exempt from the Climate Change Levy – this…

Read More

Some Ethical Challenges in the Built Environment

Cracking discussion on Monday at a seminar organised by the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment UCL – ‘Practising Ethics in Built Environment Research’. Our topic was ‘Engaging with the Fossil Fuel Companies: Risks and Opportunities’. This was obviously right up my street, given the ongoing…

Read More

Palm Oil and Deforestation: Moving Things On

Last week, after nearly a year’s work, the High Carbon Stock Steering Committee (of which I’m the Co-Chair) issued its Draft Synthesis Report for consultation. At one level, our Report is all about a simple tale of trying to reconcile two conflicting imperatives: IMPERATIVE 1 Minimise (and, where…

Read More

Can Archbishop Welby (a Former Oil Man) Rise to the Pope’s Challenge?

Laudate Si’ has landed! The much-hyped, comprehensively leaked papal encyclical was launched yesterday. I haven’t read it in detail yet, but am absolutely loving all the quotes that people are pulling out to mark this significant moment. (Such as: The Carbon Brief | The Guardian) And it really is a…

Read More