Jim Densham, Senior Policy Officer RSPB Scotland

 ‘Harvey is what climate change looks like’ - shouted media headlines recently, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/28/climate-change-hurricane-harvey-215547 highlighting that the impacts of climate change are happening here and now, not a future threat. ‘Kittiwake chick starvation is what climate change looks like’ or ‘capercaillie dying out is what…

The UK Government has today announced a new set of contracts that it’s awarding to support renewable energy technologies. The price offered to offshore wind has fallen by around half compared to 2015. This demonstrates how substantially the cost of renewable energy has fallen over recent years. Offshore wind is becoming very cost competitive compared to fossil fuel technologies.

Offshore wind turbine, rspb-images…

By Matt Williams and Melanie Coath

Climate change can pose real challenges to wildlife. Here we explore a bit about how birds are affected, what the RSPB is doing, and one simple thing you can do to help.

Seeing an osprey fly south over my garden a few days ago, I realised that autumn migration is well underway for many of our birds. I can’t help but wonder what difficulties that osprey and other birds will encounter…

By Ananya Mukherjee and Matt Williams

Our colleagues Olly Watts and Melanie Coath recently wrote about the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) latest progress reports. These annual reports set out the Committee’s assessment of how the UK is doing in tackling emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change.

This blog focuses on three specific areas covered in the reports: fracking, aviation and…

Yesterday we heard the welcome news that the Government intends to end the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK. Make no mistake, the end of sales of fossil fuel vehicles is a good thing. But the plans have received short shrift from groups concerned about air pollution.

What does the announcement mean for the climate, and for nature, though? The news came hot on the heels of a similar announcement by the French…

I’m working with the Met Office on new climate change projections for the UK, due next spring. A version of this post appeared in the project team’s newsletter.

Nature – the animals and plants which provide the setting and powerhouse for our own lives - is beset by a range of impacts from climate change.  A climate signal has been widespread across nature in the UK for some 30 years now, and I work to…

By Naomi Goody (Sustainable Development Adminstrator) and Matt Goody 

With additional research by James Stephenson (work experience student) and Matt Williams (Climate Change Policy Officer).

There’s nothing quite like feeling ahead of the curve, which is how we felt a few weeks ago when we bought an electric car. This was followed by a string of announcements about the bright future and new support for electric vehicles…

By Rebecca Bell, Senior Policy Officer.

Last week the Scottish Government launched a consultation (https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/climate-change-bill) on a new Climate Change Bill, to bring Scotland’s climate change targets in line with the Paris Agreement.

The 2009 Climate Change (Scotland) Act (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2009/12/contents) was a ground-breaking piece…

By Melanie Coath, Senior Policy Officer

Today is solar independence day! This is the UK’s annual solar celebration showcasing solar homes, solar schools, commercial solar rooftops and solar farms. You can read more about it on the Solar Trade Association’s website.

While it is true that we are not yet independent of fossil fuels and there is still a long way to go, you may have seen reports that last month nearly…

By Olly Watts and Melanie Coath, Senior Policy Officers.

There was a curious mix of optimism and the urgency to do more, at the launch of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) Report to Parliament on reducing emissions and preparing for climate change.

It was good to hear members of the Committee talk positively about the current situation. Minister Claire Perry was upbeat and strong: the world does still look to the…

In April this year, we saw the groundbreaking headlines ‘British power generation achieves first ever coal-free day’. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, the UK power network didn’t need any coal. This milestone is part of the inevitable trajectory towards coal coming off the UK power grid entirely in the next few years. Coal is one of the dirtiest forms of energy production used in the UK in terms…

The winds of change have certainly blown hard this week, hard enough in fact that on Wednesday they helped to set a new record for renewable energy. National Grid was able to report that wind, nuclear and solar power combined had produced more electricity than fossil fuels combined, for the first ever time.

This was a landmark moment, and is perhaps the mirror image of other recent headlines marking the rapid demise…

Aviation is one of the fastest growing global sources of emissions. If the UK upholds its commitment to help limit temperature rises to 1.5C, then aviation could make up half of the UK’s remaining carbon budget by 2050. And as we know, climate change is the greatest long-term threat to wildlife. New airports or runways would worsen this situation, potentially placing an unrealistic burden on other sectors of the…

It’s April, spring getting nicely underway. Planning permission for a Scottish peat bog causes a ripple across media channels. Largely good weather brings a flurry of gardening at a late Easter-time. Garden centres are ready, stocked high for a seasonal retail boom after a late winter lull.

Shouldn’t we question those stocks, find out about what’s behind the bags of compost we bring into our gardens?…

The UK Government yesterday released a new set of reports on bioenergy. Bioenergy can pose risks to both the climate and to wildlife and our recent Energy Vision report called for measures to ensure that only sustainable bioenergy is used. Scientific evidence shows that some types of bioenergy can result in meagre emissions savings or even increases in emissions. And because of its significant reliance on land use, and…

The Climate Coalition’s Show the Love campaign this year has made it clear that the public, including RSPB supporters, are concerned about the effects climate change could have on the things they love. If Government wants to address their concerns it needs to honour its Paris Agreement commitments (to pursue efforts to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees) by delivering action on climate change at home.

Climate…

Two new reports, one for England and one for Europe, remind us of the seriousness of climate change’s impacts, and the position of the natural environment at the centre of much of this. Yet both are also a rallying call for action – indeed, Defra’s report heralds the development of the second National Adaptation Programme.

Announcing the second Climate Change Risk Assessment, Defra Minister Lord Gardiner…

Nature does not respect national boundaries. And neither do the threats faced by nature. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to wildlife (see Martin Harper's recent blog for more detail) and it is a global issue which requires action by all countries.

 As part of the Birdlife Europe partnership, we support strong action across Europe to reduce carbon emissions in order to reduce the extent of global temperature…

How should we develop landscapes now that climate change is bringing ever-changing conditions and, in many cases, increasing adverse impacts?

I’ve had an inspirational visit to Cumbria looking at re-naturalisation projects with Natural England’s climate change adaptation people. Yes, the impacts are undoubtedly getting worse -  Storm Desmond was continually on the locals’ lips – yet there are enormous opportunities…

Today the Government has signalled its preference for a new runway at Heathrow. A vote in Parliament next year will result in a final decision. The RSPB has long had an interest in the issue of airport development, most recently and notably when there was a proposal for an airport in the Thames Estuary, one of the most wildlife rich areas of our islands. We and others campaigned against this idea and it was rejected by…

The UK has announced that it will ratify the United Nations Paris climate deal before the end of 2016, striving to maintain its international reputation on climate change. This is great news and will be vital to putting the UK and the world on a course that avoids some of the worst risks of climate change to wildlife. Just last week the Committee on Climate Change concluded that meeting the Paris ambition of limiting…

To begin with, what is bioenergy?

Bioenergy involves the use of organic (very often plant-based) materials to generate energy for heat, electricity and transport. In some cases, bioenergy provides emissions reductions compared to fossil fuels, thereby helping to tackle climate change. In other cases it doesn’t result in these savings, or even increases emissions, and it can also pose risks to wildlife.

That’s…

Climate change is a very real threat, but one that the Government has made a commitment to take on. A new plan is being developed for England – can you help by contacting your MP and telling them to make sure that any new policies will help our wonderful wildlife.

With the earlier half of this year set to become the hottest since records began, it’s clear that something needs to be done. The State of Nat…