From Climate Scepticism

By JIT

When passing through the kitchen this evening I heard the familiar tones of the BBC’s climate editor floating out of the radio. Naturally I stopped to listen, perhaps putting the odd bit of washing up away as I did so.

Once Rowlatt’s piece for the six o’clock news was finished, the next item…

…was another climate item.

So was the next item.

And the one after that.

In fact, the fifth item after I began listening was the first to be non-climate related; it was about Russia. Four climate stories back to back seemed overkill, even for the BBC. Later, I listened to the programme again, and offer a potted summary of the Climate News at Six below.

It turned out that the first item was in fact about Coutts and Farage. Together with the headlines, this took us to 18.02. Then:

First Climate Item

The government accused of a lackadaisical approach to climate change & increasingly seen as a laggard in tackling global warming. Criticism from 15 experts involved in COP26; their letter to Rishi; doubts about achieving the 1.5°C target; the news comes as extreme heatwaves, wildfires and floods effect millions of people across Europe, the US and Asia.

Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt reports; brings on Prof. Sir Bob Watson, who says we are on for 2.5°C.

Lord Stern says that at 2.5 and 3°C we are talking about hundreds of millions, possibly billions of people moving, southern Europe like the Sahara, much of Bangladesh, Florida and so on underwater; deplores the coal mine permission, the gas licenses, the lack of urgency on insulation.

Lord Deben urges the government to come clean – to stop saying they are leading when they aren’t; they can pull the position back before the general election; asks for a recommitment to Glasgow.

Spokesperson for DESNZ says UK is leading the way on Net Zero.

Second Climate Item

Norfolk Boreas cancelled; Vattenfall says it’s too expensive.

Environment Correspondent Jonah Fisher reports: the price of leccy generated by wind has fallen dramatically; now much cheaper than using fossil fuels like gas.

Boreas obtained a contract last year for up to 1.4 GW of electricity, =Manchester equivalent.

Claims costs have risen by 40% since: supplier cost, labour cost, cost of borrowing. [No mention that the contract obtained is index-linked.]

Third Climate Item

Dundee battery factory about to go bankrupt; asks for investment.

Fourth Climate Item

CO₂ levels could be significantly lowered [sic] removing the equivalent of 8 million cars from the UK’s roads, if less meat was eaten. Oxford U survey of 55,000 people.

Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports: those who eat >100 g of meat a day generate 10 kg/CO₂/d, while those who eat 50 g of meat a day generate 5 kg/CO₂/d. [See what they did there?]

Prof. Peter Scarborough: The study shows the benefits of big meat eaters cutting back.

Nick Allen, UK Meat Industry Assoc: Get off my lawn. [Note: this seems to be the first occasion that any contrary voice has been heard throughout the programme.]

Ghosh: Britain has some of the most sustainable meat production in the world, 100,000 jobs, etc; Gov’ts National Food Strategy says we all need to eat 30% less meat within ten years to meet our targets for reducing carbon emissions.

[18:09]

Jit: Get off my lawn, National Food Strategy. I’ve been a vegetarian for 30 years.

So there we have it: my summary of the BBC’s Climate News at Six. You may listen to it yourself here.

Featured image:

A tree, by the author.