Desmog have a deep-dive into Saudi Arabia’s Neom programme and the PR agencies behind the country’s futuristic greenwash strategy.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service predicts that 2024 will beat last year to become the hottest year on record, and the first with temperatures over 1.5C warmer than the pre-industrial era.
This week I was having lunch with a colleague and we were discussing whether or not the charity we work for should continue a presence on X/Twitter, now that we know beyond doubt that it has been turned into a propaganda tool for the world’s richest man. At the end of the conversation we saw that the Guardian has had the same debate and withdrawn from the platform.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to this yet, but Hannah Ritchie and Rob Stewart’s new podcast Solving for Climate looks rather good. Feel free to listen and report back.
Have you seen Possible’s Cabbies for the Climate campaign? It helps London taxi drivers to switch to electric, and like their project with carers, is the kind of campaign that can help to shift perceptions of net zero.
This week’s articles
Book review: Planet Aqua, by Jeremy Rifkin
For someone who has made a career out of big and bold ideas, this must have been an irresistible one: pitching a new name for the planet. That is indeed the proposal here. Humanity has misjudged the nature of our planetary home. We had always thought of it as terra firma until we saw it…
Will there ever be a global power grid?
Sometimes when I give talks about energy and carbon, I use the Energy Dashboard website to talk about live energy sources. We get to see how much electricity is coming from wind, nuclear and gas. I point out the red coal label, now joyously obsolete. And usually someone will hear about energy imports for the…
The Earthbound Report 
Hi. I wonder what the current situation is with German energy supply sources. Since they turned off their nuclear power stations I understood they were having to import electricity generated by burning dirty Polish lignite. Is this actually the case? Is the situation changing?
Thanks for your ever informative and readable blog
Regards
Simon