Excited to be starting on a new project this week – focused on clean energy & dismantling delays in tackling climate change ☀️💨

I’ll be working on that in addition to my full-time roles, so I'll be away from here for a bit.

See you on the other side! Keep decarbonising!

I often get the question of whether it's individual or systemic change that matters in tackling climate change.

It's both!

Individual choices can shape markets and prices and send signals to governments.

thetimes.co.uk/article/92eb96…

We have a new article in Nature Food “Global spatially explicit yield gap time trends reveal regions at risk of future crop yield stagnation” doi.org/10.1038/s43016…)  We introduce a typology for yield gap change, show maps, and share country-specific data in the supplemental.

For the first time, Scotland produced more renewable electricity than total overall consumption.

New statistics show renewable technologies generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s electricity usage in 2022.

This is the highest recorded to date.

ℹ️gov.scot/news/record-re…

217 GW solar and 76 GW wind added in China in 2023! Also 55 GW thermal (coal and gas, with a bit of biomass).

Had an excellent chat with Benjamin Yeoh on my book, how to think about giving, doing work in public, and why action can help with anxiety.

rb.gy/mixwce

The Rise of Batteries in Six Charts:

Great dataviz from @Shenwoxhw23 Sam Butler-Sloss Kingsmill Bond at RMI Electricity 👏
rmi.org/the-rise-of-ba…

As battery #ElectricVehicles sales in Norway reached 82% market share last year, it's remarkable how predictive this simple model ended up being.

NEW – Analysis: Clean energy was top driver of China’s economic growth in 2023 | Lauri Myllyvirta

Read here: bit.ly/3Hucgns

The curious case of a misleading story in the Sunday Telegraph and how it is being pushed towards becoming accepted truth.

Our good friends in Net Zero Watch seem determined to turn this into an ongoing story, so it’s time to debunk.
🧵

Pretty amazing finding - new analysis from Scotland shows NO CASES OF CERVICAL CANCER in women vaccinated at 12 or 13 years of age. The HPV vaccine has been remarkably effective. Exactly what was expected, but nevertheless fantastic news.

academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-a…

💉Historic day and a 'huge milestone'

Today the world's first ever routine malaria vaccinations will be administered, starting in Cameroon

After 3+ decades of work, today is when malaria vaccines get added to routine immunisations for the first time

thetimes.co.uk/article/worlds…

I can't think of a single policy priority today that would more effectively address economic insecurity, inequality, and climate change all at once than a major effort to build more (and denser) housing in America.

🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS: German heat pump market grew by more than 50% in 2023 to 356,000 units sold.

That’s more growth than in previous record year 2022.

But: policy uncertainty causes slowdown in last quarter and needs attention.

BWP

waermepumpe.de/presse/pressem…

Chris Stark (Chris Stark) will be a hard act to follow, but hopefully they find an excellent person for this role 👇

Lead poisoning kills over a million people a year. Just $350 million (about the cost of making a movie) could make a significant dent in the problem

foreignaffairs.com/united-states/…

I often hear claims like 'the UK [or another country] only emits 1% of emissions. What we do doesn't matter.'

Here's why I think that's a poor argument: sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/small-emitte…

Great news, credit to current 🇧🇷 government as President Lula wowed to halt #deforestation by 2030

A few more % points of #rainforest loss will lead to catastrophic tipping point

Alongside curbing deforestation we should massively invest in restoration
www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.co…