The climate facts that can’t be ignored

I don’t know if you saw the news last Friday that the world had the hottest summer ever recorded which was covered by the BBC, Sky News, the Washington Post. The Guardian, Al Jazeera and others

Although here in the UK it has felt like a mostly cool summer (apparently the coolest since 2015), the summer of 2024 was the warmest on record for the Earth, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the EU's climate monitoring service.

Temperatures were also up across Europe by 1.54°C beyond the 1991-2020 long term average, exceeding the previous record from 2022.

The month of August was also the 13th month in a 14-month period where the global average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

We can deny no more

So, despite the protestations of climate change deniers, it seems quite clear that the earth is heating up and the climate crisis is exactly that – a crisis that we really need to do something about.

We continue to see heatwaves and extreme weather throughout the world, and these are predicted to become more intense and more regular, driven by the greater energy in the climate.

This year, temperature records have been broken across Europe, with Austria having their warmest on record, Spain its warmest August, Finland its joint warmest and Switzerland its second warmest.

Meanwhile across northern parts of Europe it was cooler not just in the UK, but also in places such as western parts of Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Iceland and southern Norway.

But is it all doom and gloom?

Progress is being made

According to the ‘Clean energy Wire’ website, which describes itself as journalism for the energy transition, global surveys show growing concern about climate change amongst people.

However, views on how to tackle the global challenge differ, with some calling for more ambition, while others feel that their country is being asked to do too much.

Raising awareness of the need for action is half the challenge, so understanding how the general public views the climate crisis is more important than ever. 

I’d recommend reading more from the Clean Energy Wire but two polls are worth highlighting. The first is the Edelman Trust Barometer survey which was held in 14 countries and shows that 93% believe that “climate change poses a serious and imminent threat to the planet”.

The second is the United Nations Development Program’s 2024 Peoples’ Climate Vote survey, which is claimed to be the largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change ever conducted. The poll included more than 75,000 people speaking 87 different languages across 77 countries.

Overall, 80% of the respondents want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.

A greener grid

Here in the UK, we are making progress with an increase in wind and solar farms helping our grid become even ‘greener’.

Overall, this meant that our reliance on fossil fuels fell in August to less than one-fifth of all electricity generated across the country.

Adding to this are the noises and policy changes coming from the new Government, which is almost certain to see more onshore wind farms and even more growth in renewables.  The last coal fires station, Ratcliffe on Soar, will close this month, bringing to an end an era of coal for electricity generation

There will be objections, but onshore wind farms are less expensive than offshore ones and can be built much quicker.  Although offshore wind turbines can be much larger than onshore, connection to the grid is far easier with the on land version.

While offshore winds tend to be more reliable generators and have higher wind speeds, onshore wind farms have the added benefit of creating jobs and generating income for the local landowners and communities.

What will need to happen, in addition to the upgrade of the grid, is an increase in energy storage at a local level and I’m pretty certain that solar panels and battery storage will be common in UK homes within the next decade. Energy can also be stored in the form of heat

Time for the truth

I also had the pleasure of meeting an Energy Transition Optimist called Jan Rosenow on and loved what he has done with work from Carbon Brief on heat pump myth busters. These were trying to challenge disinformation and untruths from those opposed to the growth in heat pumps.

Mr Rosenow has developed what he calls a heat pump truth booster!

He has taken the ‘myths’ that Carbon Brief were seeking to correct and upgraded them into facts which show beyond doubt that heat pumps are proven, low carbon, quiet, affordable and will work in both old and new buildings.

I like this approach as it is now time that we move beyond the outright lies of those with vested interests in denying what is happening with the climate – and opposing the technologies that exist right now, and which are proven to help.

So, while there is still a lot of challenges ahead for all of us, there is optimism that we will be able to halt or mitigate the worst of the climate crisis.

Martin Fahey is Head of Sustainability