FACTCHECK: UK Conservatives double the ‘cost of net-zero’ after spreadsheet blunder The Tory "Right Way" booklet makes an erroneous claim about the cost of cutting emissions, possibly taken from a Jan26 thinktank report, and deffo the most idiotic error I've seen for a while 🧵

I often see people argue that clean energy is not reducing emissions, because it just adds to rather than replaces fossil fuels. This argument is deeply misguided – clean energy built since 2005 has displaced 23 billion tons. I dive in over at The Climate Brink:

I often see people claim that because clean energy sources like solar, wind, or nuclear are manufactured using fossil fuels their emissions are high. But thats absolutely not the case: even accounting for full lifecycle emissions they are vastly better than burning coal or gas:

EVs in the UK are "running out of juice"...except they're not..and never were. Again and again, critics have doubted EVs, yet the market simply keeps on growing. [Original graphic by Carbon Brief, annotations added later]

Electric cars just had their best month ever in the UK Nearly 100,000 new BEVs sold, +36% year-on-year (Data from SMMT, which continues to lobby for weaker EV targets)

Important to note if you see any of the auto lobby's interpretation of its own figures today: We are now WELL ahead of the 2030 target. They say they that isn't being hit but that is only true if you ignore the flexibilities they were given last year putting the real target at ~24.6%.

NEW ANALYSIS: Record wind and solar save UK from gas imports worth £5.9bn during Hormuz crisis 🌤️ wind/solar generation up 14% in 2026 to date 🏭 gas down ~10% 🚢 >100 LNG cargoes avoided

The solar panels, electric vehicles, EV batteries and wind turbines exported by China in 2025 will avoid annual emissions equal to those of the UK and Portugal combined, according to my new estimates. Avoided emissions increased 30% compared with 2024 exports.

Gasoline prices in the US are soaring. EV sales should be booming. They're not. Policy rollbacks have left the US trailing China and Europe just when drivers need an alternative most.

Slightly harder to say concretely as public chargers aren't subject to the price cap in the same way, but ZapMap suggests the average standard public charger in August cost 54p/kWh. So about 14.4p per mile vs 21p for diesel - still about 50% less expensive (Rapid chargers are more, though)

The long view of North sea licenses: A short story with some fascinating historical details 🧵 How often are we told that new licenses can guarantee UK energy security, amid another energy crisis? But hang on: licenses for the much-discussed Jackdaw gas field were issued as long ago as 1970 (pic)