Author: Julian Jones

The government produces an annual analysis of climate change emissions, but the final report is not done until a year or two after the reporting year, so the latest full analysis available is for 2017 emissions. There has been some further progress in reductions particularly due to offshore wind coming onstream. The chart shows a very simple summary of the largest emissions sectors. The numbers are from table 5 in this report that explains further: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/776085/2017_Final_emissions_statistics_-_report.pdf The first thing to note is that this just accounts for emissions that happen in the UK, and does not count those that are accounted for overseas due to things we import – particularly meat/dairy, animal fodder and biomass (wood and palm oil etc), which have a major impact due to deforrestation, for example in South America. Most of the UK emissions come from burning fossil fuels, either for transport (27%), electricity generation (24%),[…]

The BBC recently produced a report on increasing temperatures in towns and cities with predictions up to 2100, and it included Swindon, see here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-985b9374-596e-4ae6-aa04-7fbcae4cb7ee . However it does not elaborate on what that would mean for us, so here are some thoughts. Seemingly small increases in average temperatures over a relatively short timescale would cause huge problems even for places like Swindon, which would not likely be directly affected by sea level rise. London, Bristol and all our coastal towns and cities would be directly affected by substantial sea level rise, causing displacement of people worse than after world war 2 and making Swindon a destination for refugees from these cities within the UK let alone from other countries that would feel the effects of global warming more directly. Increases in extreme weather, both heat in summer and cold in winter, would put pressure on our food supply and[…]