Adam Vaughan
Environment Editor at The Times. Clean it Up water campaign. Planet Hope podcast host. When not working, usually running. adam.vaughan@thetimes.co.uk
- Gotta love this line in @fionaharvey.bsky.social story “There’s quite a few scientists that say we don’t need to get to net zero by 2050.” [Shadow UK energy minister Andrew] Bowie and his office were unable to name such scientists when pressed. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
- UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has just given the planning green light to another major solar farm This one is 400MW and in East Yorkshire. Boom Power is the developer The govt has now approved >3GW of large-scale solar power since July infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/i...
- Why shouldn’t rivers have rights? Companies do, says nature writer @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @thetimes.com interview here on his new book, Is a River Alive? 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- The two men accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, have been found guilty, PA News Agency reports
- For the sake of clarity... No, the UK government is not going to "dim the sun" to tackle climate change UK climate minister Kerry McCarthy confirms there are no plans to deploy solar radiation management (aka solar geoengineering) questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
- Good stuff by @hugorifkind.bsky.social on Reform's anti net zero "ideologues" "We don’t want to end up as a dirty, backwards nation, still reliant on setting fire to stuff long after the likes of India and China have started asking us to stop." www.thetimes.com/article/68ea...
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- The world’s largest offshore wind developer is halting work on a vast UK project blaming rising costs and risk of delays, in a blow to Britain’s clean energy goals. Ørsted said it was stopping spending and cancelling contracts for its Hornsea 4 project in the North Sea. www.ft.com/content/7015...
- Solar panels could be mandated on top of new car parks across England, Wales and Northern Ireland under plans being considered by ministers www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Elk could be reintroduced to Britain after 3,000 years #rewilding #greensky www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Reposted by Adam VaughanThis is why mooting 'ditching net-zero' as the solution to Labour's woes is so silly. It's a policy that is popular with their core voters, critical to progressive voters they need to woo back, and Reform voters are sceptical but it's way down their priority list.
- NEW A court has ruled the UK's decision to ban sand eel fishing in English waters was a breach of the EU-UK trade deal. This is the first formal post-Brexit trade spat, over tiny silver fish. UK ban was to help puffins and other seabirds which rely on sand eels. pcacases.com/web/sendAtta...
- England's environmental watchdog says Labour's planning bill risks weakening nature protections "There are fewer protections for nature written into the bill than under existing law. Creating new flexibility without sufficient legal safeguards could see environmental outcomes lessened over time."
- Are you one of the circa 400,000 people in the UK with an old-fashioned RTS meter? Have you struggled to get your energy supplier to upgrade you to a smart meter? I’m a journalist at @thetimes.com and would like to hear from you for a story. Pls mail me with your number adam.vaughan@thetimes.co.uk
- NEW Solar panels to be mandated on vast majority of new homes in England Currently about 40% of new builds have solar; new rules should push that to about 99% Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Thousands more people could die from overheating each year if Britain does not adapt to a warming world to avert “tomorrow’s disasters”, the UK government’s climate advisers have warned. @thecccuk.bsky.social says no sign Labour are taking climate adaptation more seriously than Tories
- The felled Enfield oak and Sycamore Gap are not alone. Figures shared with The Times show that ten of a group of 144 of the UK's most important “heritage” trees, those with ecological, cultural and historical significance, have been lost in the past two decades. 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
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- Wild that 28% of Tory voters don't believe humans are causing climate change. The figure is quite high for UK population as a whole, at 17%. Yet it's 4yrs since the IPCC upgraded its certainty on our role in causing climate change, calling it "unequivocal". Lotta people didn't get the message.
- A centuries-old oak tree with “more ecological value than the Sycamore Gap tree” has been hacked down by the FTSE 250-listed owners of a nearby Toby Carvery. 🤦♂️😢🌳 www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...
- ICYM Solar panel push still won’t cover as much land as golf courses, even if the UK government's 2030 solar power goals are met www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- NEW 2025 has become the UK's worst wildfire year on record After just 15 weeks, 28,771 hectares have been burned That's an area roughly 2x area of Bristol More background in this story here 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Europe experienced two sides of climate change last year, with wet weather hitting western countries while eastern countries became exceedingly dry, a study has found. @ben-cooke.bsky.social reports on @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social research: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- A pioneering plan to use Britain’s seas to fight climate change has been scrapped because it was considered too expensive Planetary Technologies said it would not be going ahead with a large-scale plan to use Cornish waters to capture carbon from the atmosphere 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Amount of electricity needed to power world's data centres expected to double in five years, reports @t0mclark3.bsky.social on new @iea.org research news.sky.com/story/amount...
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- Gas boilers are now the biggest source of NOx air pollution in central London But city-wide, cars are still the biggest source. Story: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
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- Nations from 175 countries have gathered in London this week at the International Maritime Organisation to hammer out the final details of a deal, more than a decade in the making, that could finally deliver a plan to decarbonise shipping over the next 25yrs www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Simon Jupp, a former Tory MP who called South West Water’s track record “shameful”, has joined its parent company in a move that campaigners said was a case of “poacher turned gamekeeper” Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- The former president of the National Farmers’ Union, Minette Batters, has been hired by the UK government in an effort to win over farmers by making their operations more profitable. Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
- Rampion 2 wind farm is go Another 1.2GW of clean power coming later this decade People in Brighton and surrounding areas like Rampion 1 Hopefully most will feel the same about this extension
- Arctic sea ice extent for March set a record low since satellite monitoring started 47 years ago The amount of ice "missing", compared to 1979, is an area the size of Alaska! March is when Arctic sea ice extent hits its maximum, before declining to minimum, usually Sept nsidc.org/sea-ice-toda...
- Good debunking here of some of the nonsense pedalled about the "bat tunnel" built for HS2 It's by people with skin in the game - @batconservation.bsky.social - but worth reading www.bats.org.uk/news/2025/04... See also @whippletom.bsky.social's read on this www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
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- Would be sad if these went. Only been to Romania once but these haystacks across the landscape were one of the things that made the place special & different As this story points out, they're also important habitats for fauna and flora www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- White House fact sheet: “The UK maintains non-science-based standards that severely restrict U.S. exports of safe, high-quality beef and poultry products.” i.e. let us sell you our meat and undercut yours made with higher animal welfare & environmental standards www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
- Good news from @hannahritchie.bsky.social Many second-hand electric cars are cheaper up-front than their petrol equivalents www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/used-elect...
- Good story by @karlmathiesen.bsky.social et al: "Can Keir Starmer bring down bills before bills bring him down?" The obv & most progressive option, flagged in the piece, still seems to be shifting eco/social levies off elec bills & onto taxation, paid with tax rise www.politico.eu/article/can-...
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- Reposted by Adam VaughanWhere did all the butterflies go? 🚨🦋 Newly released data has revealed that 2024 was one of the worst years on record for butterflies in the UK, and more than half of butterfly species are now in long-term decline. We are in a #ButterflyEmergency.
