CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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Warming oceans probably fueling Hurricane Melissa’s rapid intensification
Climate scientists have long warned that warming oceans are making explosive storm development more common
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/27/hurricane-melissa-warming-oceans-climate-crisis
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Plans for more than 80 homes overlooking a Scottish marina have been recommended for refusal. The proposals are expected to be rejected on a series of grounds including flood risk.
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The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust are attempting to complete the purchase of the Rothbury Estate, a 15 sq miles (38.8 sq km) tract of former grouse moor, woodland and farmland, with plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs and promote nature-friendly farming.
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It is the largest area of land to be put on sale in England in decades and sits in the heart of what nature experts said could be a 40-mile (64km) "wild" corridor, stretching from the coast to Kielder and the Scottish border, and includes the Simonside Hills
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The bill, which the government hopes will boost economic growth, removes EU-derived nature protections and instead allows developers to build on wildlife areas if they pay money into a “nature recovery fund” and commit to improve the environment within 10 years.
The EU believes its protections, which the UK used to follow, are stronger as they involve not harming habitats in the first place, and quickly replacing what is lost rather than making a vague long-term commitment.
EU negotiators have also noticed there are provisions in the bill for the Treasury to claw back the money from the nature recovery fund in some instances, meaning it is not fully ringfenced to protect wildlife.
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Proposals being considered by Rachel Reeves to cut tax on electricity bills will backfire, experts have warned, resulting in a giveaway to richer homeowners and undermining the UK’s climate commitments.
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In May Farage claimed the government could save £45bn a year from abandoning net zero commitments. But the experts he relied on for that calculation warned afterwards the figure was mainly made up of private-sector investment, which does not contribute towards public spending.
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Scotland’s claims to be a green energy superpower in the making have been endorsed by business leaders who have warned that governments need to do much more to support the sector.
CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said Scotland’s natural resources are the envy of the world and could provide a “golden ticket for UK growth”.
Hailing the scale of offshore wind energy development off the country and the potential of marine energy, Ms Newton-Smith said Scotland “has the tools at its fingertips to be a global clean energy superpower”.
However, she highlighted fears that what the employers' organisation sees as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity could be squandered unless ministers address the fears of investors who will be required to fund the transition to a low carbon economy.
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Ahem! Heat Networks. District heating. Heat pumps.
Where's the chat about them?
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/10/31/worlds-largest-heat-pump-under-development-in-germany/
Why isn't ScotGov talking about a similar scheme to this, for example?
They are looking at it but sadly not much in the way of funding attached
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/business/heat-networks-building-assessment-reports
Not that rUK is much better. The exclusion of heat network customers from the usual consumer protections around domestic energy really has reduced the attractiveness of the schemes
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Less than 3% of international aid to slash carbon emissions is supporting a “just transition” for workers and communities away from polluting industries, according to a new report.
Released one week before the start of major United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the analysis from the climate and development non-profit ActionAid warns that the world’s response to the climate crisis risks deepening inequality rather than addressing it.
It also reveals a “hidden reason that we’ve not seen climate action at scale”, said Teresa Anderson, the organization’s global climate justice lead.
“People are apparently being forced to choose between a safe job and a secure job and a safe planet,” she said. “These projects aren’t doing nearly enough to reassure people that they don’t have to make that choice.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/03/international-climate-aid-just-transition
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Energy and net zero
Keeping with the theme of “Reform-favourite policies which don’t necessarily poll hugely well with voters more widely”, Farage used a long section of his speech to condemn what he called the “lunatic” push for net zero, promising instead to prioritise new drilling for fossil fuels in the North Sea.
While the idea of lower energy costs, as promised by Farage, would be popular, there is very limited evidence that a new drilling push in the North Sea would achieve this. And for all that some rightwing papers and commentators talk as if the government’s net zero targets are hated, polling generally suggests otherwise.
That said, Ed Miliband may need to slow the pace of solar and wind projects, neutering this line of attack. The energy secretary is under pressure to alleviate the burden on business from high energy costs made wore by net zero subsidies.
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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-reform-uk-economic-policy
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And as artificial intelligence accelerates seemingly beyond regulation, will the tech titans become the ultimate power brokers, not just in politics but in shaping the future of humanity itself?
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/n12t26ht9/panorama-trump-and-the-tech-titans
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After facing anger from nature groups over the deregulation in the upcoming planning bill, ministers are trying to demonstrate that mass housebuilding can be delivered in conjunction with new nature. The government has promised to plant millions of trees to boost England’s nature.
Nature minister Mary Creagh told the Guardian: “A previous Labour government had this great vision of garden cities post world war two and given our promises on tree planting, we thought, how can we create these forest cities which basically bring nature closer to people, green jobs closer to these new communities and help us tackle climate change?”
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Rachel Reeves is considering slashing funding for more energy efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bill
That makes no sense at all. We're going to slash energy bills, by forcing people to consume more energy? (and presumably more fossils)
Reeves/Starmer taking the wrong turn at every step...
FFS just remove the fuel duty freeze and tax aviation fuel... would be a start
And the way to reduce energy bills is to get off fossils. Solar is now the cheapest form of electricity there is.
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Unlike people today, early Holocene people lived within the limits of nature and the lands they inhabited: when resources were scarce, they adapted; when a changing climate caused sea levels to rise, they migrated to new lands. Faced with anthropogenic climate change, migration is, once again, a solution for those whose lives become unlivable, but in a crowded and unequal world, it is hard, contested, and political.
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https://hakaimagazine.com/features/conjuring-the-lost-land-beneath-the-north-sea/
Assynt has a lot of space for people and milder than it used to be. But what would the Holocene people do? Work From Home? The population is sparse but most cafes and bookshops etc seem to be nice people who have downsized from England for a better life.
Shetland has 11 hours of daylight in the entire month of January.
Good questions.
Perhaps ask ChatGPT?
Assynt very big for. Glacial Isostatic Adjustment.
Keep your eye out for Scotland's new draft climate change plan. It's due to be published about 2pm tomorrow on the Scottish Government's website (gov.scot).
It's the first new Scottish climate change plan since 2020. You remember - the one that promised £50 million to create a network of 'active freeways'? No - how about reduce car milage by 20% between 2019 and 2030? The commitment to decarbonise ScotRail services by 2035? Surely the £500 million for bus priority measures rings a bell?
No? Hardly surprising - they have all been cancelled or simply never happened. The 'active freeways' one was the oddest - after a few mentions in policy documents it simply vanished, never to be talked of again.
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There is still a chance for the world to avoid the worst ravages of climate breakdown and return to the goal of 1.5C if governments take concerted action on greenhouse gas emissions, a new assessment argues.
The Climate Analytics report says governments’ goals are inadequate and need to be rapidly revised, and calls for the rapid scaling-up of the use of renewable energy and electrification of key sectors including transport, heating and industry.
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Under proposals the chancellor may announce on 26 November, EV drivers would face a new charge of 3p a mile on top of other road taxes to offset falling revenue from petrol and diesel cars as drivers switch to greener options.
A government spokesperson said: “Fuel duty covers petrol and diesel, but there’s no equivalent for electric vehicles. We want a fairer system for all drivers.”
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Just get road pricing sorted!
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Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, UN chief tells Cop30 summit
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New draft climate plan must be strengthened to deliver transformational changes and benefits for all Scots
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Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) in rural Scotland should be awarded “free miles” if a new pay-per-mile system is announced in the UK Budget, a motoring group has urged.
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Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) in rural Scotland should be awarded “free miles” if a new pay-per-mile system is announced
This is the reason why a brute-force pay-per-mile charge won't work, and will be seen as a tax. Road charging needs to be based on demand, and granular enough to take into account distance, time of day, and day of week.
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Ignore the howls around pay-per-mile, chancellor. We can’t afford not to tax electric cars
The issue of how motoring taxes should change as we decarbonise the economy has been dodged for too long. Car salesmen need to get real
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So, I have had a quick scan of the new draft Scottish Climate Change Plan.
It is hard to know what to say. There are no real policies, timescales, or budgets. Figures appear to have been plucked from thin air, vague assertions asked to bear the title 'policy', and advice from experts at the Climate Change Committee, Scottish Fiscal Commission and others roundly ignored.
What I can say is, apart from minimal pro-cycling vibes, there is nothing new for cycling.
If anyone tells you this is a step forward or a good thing please ask them to explain why this is the case.
@Morningsider - tried link but Kindle stalled. Maybe ok on a PC.
National had round up... their summary misses rail. They must have something surely in report?
Electrifying cars, vans, and trucks is how the Scottish Government hopes to reach its target to decarbonise the sector by around 68% between 2025 and 2040. It also set a new target to reduce current emissions from cars by at least 16% by 2026.“While these sectors are expected to undergo some decarbonisation over time, the outlook for emissions from aviation and shipping is heavily dependent on future transport demand and the pace of technology rollout for lower carbon solutions,” an annex to the plan added.
Demand at Scottish airports is expected to rise.
While road transport is expected to be "significantly decarbonised”, it does note issues with aviation, the second most polluting area in transport, stating that it will “experience little decarbonisation”, and that any improvements will be “offset by potential demand growth for air travel at Scottish airports”.Shipping emissions, it suggests, are expected to decline alongside “reductions in oil and gas activity in the North Sea”.
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