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Join the politics of the future! Updated for 2026

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This has been a momentous year! A year in which the Green Party has taken its place at the forefront of UK politics. A year in which young people in particular have embraced our message of hope and real change.

A year in which nearly 300,000 people joined together to help ensure we took our place in the national leadership debates. A year in which we are matching, and often exceeding, the Lib Dems, a party of government, in national polls.

And a year in which we have become the third largest political party in England and Wales! In the space of 12 months we have grown from 13,000 members to 55,000. Our membership has quadrupled!   

And one thing that the green surge means is that more than 90% of you will have the chance to vote Green on the 7th of May. For some that means the first ever chance to vote Green. 

Your vote can change the face of Britain!

In just nine weeks’ time, you will have in your hands something miraculous … the possibility of a peaceful political revolution. Your vote can change the face of Britain. It can end the failed austerity experiment, end the spiteful blaming of the poor, the sick, the vulnerable for the mistakes of the wealthy.

This election can be a turning point in history. The moment where we can deliver a better Britain, a Britain which works for all its people … A Britain which cares. 

Vote for what you believe in, vote for the policies of hope not fear, vote for policies that work for the common good not just the few, and Britain could be a very different country on the 8th of May. It is time for Green Politics – the politics of the future – that delivers:

  • a living wage: jobs that workers can build a life on, with support for those who need it;
  • public services run for the good of all – our railways run not for shareholders but for passengers, our NHS not handed over to profiteers but kept in public hands;
  • social housing, council housing, to meet our housing needs;
  • the means for everyone to live within the limits of our one planet – because it’s the only one we’ve got.


A society fit for people and our communities

No one should be living in fear of being unable to put food on the table. No one should be forced into debt just for trying to get an education.

No one should be worrying about a fracking drill burrowing into the heart of their community.  No one should fear being left destitute by Iain Duncan Smith’s punitive benefit sanctions. 

The politics of the future is not a politics of transaction, that discredited politics which offers selected individuals and groups a bribe of short-term, unsustainable personal advantage.

History tells us that is now the old politics, the tired politics, the failed politics. The Green Party is offering instead a society working for all of us; for the many, not just the few; a society in which those who can contribute do so, and no one in need goes without.

It asks voters to make a choice that will deliver a society fit for themselves, their communities, and their children.

#GreenSurge

That’s why the Green surge is much more than just a hash tag – although a highly successful hash tag it has been – the green surge is much more than just membership numbers. That’s why people are becoming engaged with the Green Party. 

I have seen the Green surge on the ground, around the country, from a village hall in Ilkley, Yorkshire, to an enormous, snaking queue of hundreds at Exeter University, to a Valentine’s Eve Friday night crowd at the London School of Economics. 

And of course we saw it last May with the election of Molly Scott Cato as the first Green member of the European Parliament in the South West – and boy, hasn’t she delivered for her voters! 

The Green surge is the result of your hard work as Greens. It’s thanks to you in this hall, and to all of the Green Party members and supporters up and down the country – to your commitment, your belief, your dedication and your hard work – that we approach the General Election as a central player in UK politics. 

And of course, it isn’t just Green Party. Up and down the country, campaigns demanding a new politics are getting stronger, bigger, more effective. There’s People’s Assemblies, Occupy Democracy, the anti-fracking movement and the fossil fuel divestment campaigns: the tide is growing, the demand for change is louder and clearer.

We’re fighting back

At last, the people are fighting back! Five years ago we made a huge breakthrough with the election of Caroline Lucas as the first Green MP, and she’s given Brighton a spectacularly good local voice and a national impact far beyond any other MP. Caroline has led the debate on issues from railway ownership to statutory Personal and Social Education.

She’s led the debate on parliamentary transparency and she has put her freedom on the line to oppose fracking. Because Caroline shows what voting Green delivers: passion, sensitivity and courage. 

On May 8, just imagine, a strong green group of MPs at Westminster – able to build on and expand Caroline’s work. A group which would never, ever support a Conservative Government. A strong group of Green MPs – in a parliament where they could have a huge say, a huge impact – that is a real opportunity to start to deliver a new kind of politics.

We know that the way things are in Britain is not sustainable. Continuing as we are is not an option. Since 2007, food prices have risen 22% but wages have fallen 7%. Almost seven hundred thousand people are listed as ‘in work’, despite having no guaranteed hours week-to-week.

It’s time to end the scourge of zero hours contracts. Almost half the new jobs created since 2010 are for the self-employed, yet nearly 80% of self-employed workers are living in poverty. I applaud the growing number of individuals who contribute to, who volunteer in, who run, food banks.

But individual charity is no substitute for collective justice. This the outcome of the years of Blair, of Brown, of the Cameron / Clegg Coalition and austerity Britain – this is the record of George Osborne’s ‘long term economic plan’.

The Green Party are calling time on the politics of low wages, job insecurity and fearing the food bank. We are calling time on privatisation – the sell-off and the handing over – of public assets into private hands.

We must treasure the natural world – not trash it!

We are calling time on the trashing of our natural world – the world on which everything, depends. Our economy, our lives, our future depend on society, which in turn depends on the Earth and its resources.

That puts a huge weight, a huge responsibility on our shoulders – a responsibility we have to meet in the next few years. We know now the damage we are doing to the Earth, as we didn’t know in the past. We have to be up to the task.

The whole ideology of Thatcher and her successors, be it Blair, Brown or Cameron, has failed. Change has to come. The market is short-sighted and short-term. It is blind. It is senseless. It works for the 1%, it fails the rest of us. All in it together? I don’t think so.

The current model of economics and society has served only those with power and wealth. In austerity Britain, the super rich grabs more than anywhere else in Europe. We must be first and foremost citizens, paying fairly to common funds to look after the poor, the weak, the old and the sick. 

Everybody contributes what they can and everybody benefits from that. This is what the politics of the future will look like, what the Green Party will deliver. The old politics, the failed politics of letting the market rule has to end.

Save our NHS! Save our social care!

There’s nowhere that’s more obvious than in our NHS. The insidious but rapid infiltration of the profit motive into our health service, the dreadful, senseless PFI schemes that have deliver despair and threaten bankruptcy, must be reversed.

The market costs us big time. In 2010 the Health Select Committee reckoned it consumed 9% of total NHS costs – well over £10bn a year. As Caroline has already said – we will repeal the Health and Social Care Act, which is damaging and threatening the health service.

And we will go further – we will replace it with an NHS Reinstatement Bill that removes the market mechanism from our NHS. But of course there is another side to care. Free healthcare is the very cornerstone of our NHS. Whether you are rich or poor you have the right to the best that is available.

That’s something the Green Party will restore – and extend. For that same principle should apply to social care – the support and services that you need to lead a fulfilling life should be available when you need it, free at the point of use. 

We believe that to be a decent, humane, caring society, social care must be free. We believe those who have the most should contribute to help pay for social care. We need a range of new taxes aimed at making Britain a more equal society.

We would introduce a new wealth tax, rigorously clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion and introduce a financial transaction tax – a Robin Hood Tax, and we are not ashamed to say that those on incomes above £100,000 should pay more income tax.

Providing Free Social Care for the Over 65’s means security and freedom from fear, suffering and loneliness for many, and it means 200,000 new jobs and training places. 

We will consult experts, users, and care workers on its exact design – but our manifesto will include this as a core pledge: social care is not a privilege, it is a right! 

Register to vote – now!

We know that the younger generation – many of whom are supporting the Green Party – have it tough. But we acknowledge, we stress, that isn’t the fault of their elders. 

In a Britain of solidarity, in a Britain of community, in a Britain of care, we all need to look out for each other. Of course – and I cannot stress this enough – we can only do this if you, the people of the UK have your say on May the 7th.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of each and every person who can vote registering to do so and making their voice heard. The deadline is April 20th, but please don’t wait – register today. Only then can you deliver the politics of the future, help us deliver for the Common Good.

There are people who want to see business-as-usual politics continue. People who are happy with politicians who learnt nothing from the global economic crash. People who’ve quietly forgotten the scandal of MPs expenses. Who are resigned to the failed austerity experiment, to low wages and to the swift demise of public services.

Those people will probably vote for the parties of yesterday. To counteract them, you need to use your vote. At this election, if we all vote Green, we can change Britain. Together we can create the society we all deserve a society that cares, a society that works for all of us. 

Vote for the party that cares. Vote for the common good. Vote for the politics of the future. Vote Green.   

 

 

Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party of England & Wales.

This speech was delivered to the Green Party’s spring conference on Friday 6th March 2015. See original here.

 

 

 




391048

After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

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Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




390945

After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




390945

After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




390945

After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




390945

After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




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After UK’s record solar year, government tries to kill the sector Updated for 2026

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Marks & Spencer (M&S) has just completed the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands automated distribution centre in Castle Donington.

The 6.1MWp solar array comprises 24,272 PV panels, each rated at 250W, installed on the company’s 900,000 sq.ft (84,000 sq.m) roof.

It’s yet another contribution to the record growth of the UK’s solar sector, which now boasts over 650,000 solar installations across homes, offices, schools, churches, warehouses, farms, police stations, train stations and even a bridge.

Official statistics show that total capacity reached almost 5GW at the end of 2014, up from 2.8GW at the end of 2013. At peak production, that’s enough to power 1.5 million homes, and approaching 10% of the UK’s peak power demand.

But now the government is determined to kill UK solar

Despite the manifest success of the UK’s solar industry, the government last week anounced that only five large (over 5MW) new solar installations will be supported under its new  ‘Contracts for Difference’ (CFD) system.

The CFD ‘auction’, held earlier this year, required ‘established renewables’ – a category that includes onshore wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar – to compete with each other for a share of £50m for the next year, rising to 65m allocated for future years.

Relative to support for other technologies the sum is minute. The government is spending £3.1bn for under its established Renewables Obligation (RO) support mechanism for 2014/15. And while the RO remains open until 2017 to other technologies, it specifically excludes large-scale solar.

The Solar Trade Association predicts a catastrophic decline in the sector as a consequence. It estimates that 2-3GW (2,000-3,000MW) of large-scale solar will be completed in the current financial year.

But it predicts that next financial year new installations will collapse to just 32MW for all solar PV large and small – around 1% of current levels.

‘Blatant discrimination’

Some now accuse the government of “blatant discrimination” against solar power, owing to its unique exclusion from the RO, combined with the paltry sum available under the CFD package. In addition Britain’s Green Investment Bank has so far excluded solar power from loans of £1.6 billion for renewables.

The five solar projects selected from the CFD auction came in at the lowest prices of all the 27 winners, at £50 and £79.23 per MWh. Most of the others were onshore wind projects bidding at £82.50. This provides a strong indication that solar is already the UK’s lowest cost form of renewable energy.

Making government policy especially paradoxical, say critics, is the fact that solar PV is expected to be competitive with fossil fuel power as soon as 2020, according to the recent report ‘In Sight: Unsubsidised UK Solar‘. The report recommends:

“Solar PV will be a critical technology in the 21st century, and the British government should continue to support the industry until it is fully economic without subsidies; we believe that this will be reached within the next decade across all solar markets in Britain.

“Support must be reduced progressively and predictably towards elimination over the next decade, to help build a more mature, lowcost supply chain, while maintaining value for money and preventing developers from inflating prices. Getting the right support level is critical to driving sustained cost reductions.”

Even Amber Rudd, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, had nice things to say at M&S’s solar launch yesterday: “More rooftop solar means more jobs – and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

But in fact, the government is putting the boot in. Why? A clue may exist elsewhere in the report: “Increasing cost-competitiveness and capacity growth of solar PV in Britain will impact the British power system, including falls in wholesale power prices, as already seen in Germany.

“The growth of solar power may threaten electric utilities which fail to transition away from solely supplying electricity, to providing residential energy services.”

Could the UK government’s apparently senseless policy on solar power be written by the energy companies in direct opposition to the consumer interest in lower electricity prices? So it would appear.

But M&S sticks to its solar guns

M&S’s record-breaking PV array will help the company maintain its commitment of sourcing 100% of its electricity for UK and Ireland buildings from renewable sources, with 50% sourced from small scale renewable sources by 2020.

The energy it generates each year – estimated at 5,000 MWh – will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the distribution centre, and lower M&S’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years.

As such M&S’s solar commitment is driven by its low carbon policy commitment rather than subsidies. Since the launch of its ‘Plan A’ in 2007, M&S has lowered its carbon emissions by 37% and is carbon neutral across its worldwide operations.

And Hugo Adams, Director of Property at M&S, confirmed that there was more in the pipeline. The completion of this project, he said, was “the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”

And it may just be that as prices fall, other companies, landlords, schools, local authorities and home-owners will just carry on installing solar anyway, driving down their power bills and carbon footprint – and foiling the attempt by the UK government, in cahoots with the Big Six power companies, to kill the sector off.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




390945

WMO: 2014 was hottest year on record Updated for 2026

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As many were predicting towards the end of the year, 2014 has proved to be the hottest year on record, according to datasets released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

But the record was broken by a slim margin: after consolidating leading international datasets, WMO noted that the difference in temperature between the warmest years is only a few hundredths of a degree.

The next hottest years were 2010 and 2005, and these were only 0.02C and 0.03C cooler – less than the margin of uncertainty.

“The overall warming trend is more important than the ranking of an individual year”, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “Analysis of the datasets indicates that 2014 was nominally the warmest on record, although there is very little difference between the three hottest years.”

More significant, he says, is the longer term picture that has developed post-2000: “Fourteen of the fifteen hottest years have all been this century. We expect global warming to continue, given that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the increasing heat content of the oceans are committing us to a warmer future.”

WMO released the global temperature analysis in advance of climate change negotiations to be held in Geneva from 8 to 13 February. These talks will help to pave the way for an agreement on action to be adopted by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change next December in Paris.

The oceans are the main climate drivers

Around 93% of the excess energy trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and other human activities ends up in the oceans. Therefore, the heat content of the oceans is key to understanding the climate system. Global sea-surface temperatures reached record levels in 2014.

“It is notable that the high 2014 temperatures occurred in the absence of a fully developed El Niño”, says WMO, noting that El Niño is a meteorological condition that occurs when warmer than average sea-surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific combine, in a self-reinforcing loop, with atmospheric pressure systems.

This has an overall warming impact on the climate: blocking the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich deep ocean waters along the South American Pacific coast; bringing heavy rains to normally arid coastal regions; and bringing drought conditions to much of southeast Asia. High temperatures in 1998 – the hottest year before the 21st century – occurred during a strong El-Niño year.

“In 2014, record-breaking heat combined with torrential rainfall and floods in many countries and drought in some others – consistent with the expectation of a changing climate”, said Mr Jarraud.

“Strong weather and climate services are now more necessary than ever before to increase resilience to disasters and help countries and communities adapt to a fast changing and, in many places, less hospitable climate.”

A synthesis of multiple datasets

Average global air temperatures over land and sea surface in 2014 were 0.57 °C above the long-term average of 14.00°C (57.2 °F) for the 1961-1990 reference period.

By comparison, temperatures were 0.55 °C (1.00°F) above average in 2010 and 0.54°C (0.98°F) above average in 2005,  according to WMO calculations. The estimated margin of uncertainty was 0.10°C (0.18°F).

Global average temperatures are also estimated using reanalysis systems, which use the most advanced weather forecasting systems to combine many sources of data to provide a complementary analysis approaches.

WMO in particular uses data from the reanalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which also ranks 2014 as among the four warmest.

The WMO analysis is based, amongst others,  on three complementary datasets maintained by the Hadley Centre of the UK’s Met Office and the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom (combined); the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Centre; and the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The final report on the Status of the Climate in 2014, with full details of regional trends and extreme events, will be available in March 2015.

 

 




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2015 – the fossil fuel endgame begins Updated for 2026

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2014 was the hottest year on record. It was also the year, the industry that’s driving the warming came under unprecedented fire. As temperatures rise, so does the climate movement!

At the climate talks in Lima in December, politicians were for the first time talking about a goal to phase out carbon emissions by mid-century. That would mean the end of the fossil fuel industry as we know it.

2015 is going to be critical for the climate. At the end of the year, world leaders will gather in Paris to attempt once again to secure a global climate deal.

Given their track record, they will not act in accordance with the urgency of the climate crisis while the fossil fuel industry holds the balance of power. Therefore, the climate movement will turn up the heat to erode the industry’s might.

Already, people all over are gearing up to confront dirty energy projects, demand solutions and build pressure on decision makers. A key effort that has helped to build renewed momentum on climate change last year is the fossil fuel divestment campaign.

Removing the fossil fuel industry’s social license to operate

For decades, fossil fuel companies have successfully blocked political action on climate change. These companies have five times more carbon in their reserves than can be burnt to stay below the politically agreed 2 degrees global warming.

In other words, 80% of their current reserves are unburnable. For Europe, this translates into 89% of coal, 21% of oil, and 6% of gas reserves, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature last week. Yet, fossil fuel companies spend billions every year to discover and develop yet more carbon.

Every institution that stops funding fossil fuel companies, is taking an active step towards removing the industry’s social acceptance and consequently its political influence. It is therefore not just actual divestment wins, the campaign aims to elevate the public debate leading to a change in social norms.

In 2014, the number of institutional divestment commitments more than doubled. High-ranking figures such as former archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim got behind the campaign.

It is hard to believe that the divestment campaign kicked off only just over a year ago in Europe. Since then campaigns urging local authorities, universities, religious and other institutions have popped up at a dizzying pace, adding up to 94 active campaigns throughout the continent.

The European movement has already celebrated a number of big wins. The University of Glasgow has become the first academic institution in Europe to ditch its fossil fuel holdings. Boxtel in the Netherlands and Örebro in Sweden are the first local authorities on the continent to divest.

The Quakers in Britain and the Church of Sweden were among the first faith-based organisations to lead the way, and the British Medical Association has become the first medical organisation in the world to ban investments in fossil fuels.

Making fossil fuels history

Besides the rapid pace with which the divestment movement is spreading, it is its breadth and diversity that lend it its power. Diversity is essential to achieving social change.

What started with student campaigns at US college campuses, now encompasses a large variety of different groups of people. It is a movement of citizens who do not want their pension money invested in companies whose business model is based on undermining the very future their pension is meant to safeguard.

It is doctors who are concerned about the health impacts of climate change. It is people of faith who believe in our moral obligation to care for creation. It is academics demanding their institution’s finances stop undermining its mission.

It is concerned citizens from all walks of life who believe in climate justice, the stewardship role public institutions should play and in doing what’s right.

This first year has only been the start of the divestment movement in Europe. The year ahead already holds big promises as campaigns build their power to confront the power of the fossil fuel industry. The movement is also gaining strength globally. The first divestment campaigns have started in South Africa and the Pacific Islands.

On 13-14 February, the global movement is going to show its collective force. On Global Divestment Day, thousands of people everywhere will turn out to demand institutions do what is necessary for climate action by divesting from fossil fuels.

Local authorities will come under pressure to walk their talk on climate. New campaigns will be launched. University students will hold flash-mobs, vigils, sit-ins and rallies calling upon their endowments to invest in a liveable future.

Faith leaders and people living on the frontline of climate change will band together to urge their communities to divest from climate destruction. Individuals will close their accounts with banks investing in climate chaos.

Fossil fight-back goes into a tailspin

Of course the fossil fuel industry and its backers have also started to fight back fiercely, dismissing the movement and attacking divestment decisions.

Maybe it’s just coincidence – but big fossil’s attempt to dictate the terms of the debate comes at a time when large parts of the energy industry are in deep trouble owing to low energy prices, with oil sinking below $50 a barrel, and gas fast following suit.

High-cost ‘unconventional’ oil and gas – from shale fracking, tar sands, the Arctic and deep water marine wells – is already a loss-making proposition. One small Texas shale oil company went bust only last week. Many more will surely follow.

Of course prices could rise again – but the current financial bloodbath that has overtaken fossil fuels will permanently spook investors, who will no longer see fossil fuel investments as a reliable cash cow, but as a hazardous proposition fraught with financial risk.

As the fossil fuel industry throws more money at fossil fuel expansion, the divestment movement too is turning up the volume.

And now, history is on our side. Investors are turning away from fossil fuels in droves as fear of loss overtakes greed for profit, and as the ‘unburnable carbon’ meme hits home with a resounding slam that will reverberate through 2015, and beyond.

 

 

Melanie Mattauch is 350.org Europe Communications Coordinator. 350.org is building a global climate movement and initiated the Fossil Free campaign.

Action: Global Divestment Day, 13th-14th February.

 

 




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WMO: 2014 set to be the hottest year on record Updated for 2026

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The record heat recorded in many parts of the world is largely due to record high global sea surface temperatures, which will very likely remain above normal until the end of the year.

The high sea temperatures, together with other factors, also contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others.

WMO’s Provisional Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2014 indicated that the global average air temperature over land and sea surface for January to October was about 0.57°C above the average of 14.00°C for the 1961-1990 reference period, and 0.09°C above the average for 2004-2013.

If November and December maintain the same tendency, then 2014 will likely be the hottest on record, ahead of 2010, 2005 and 1998.

This confirms the underlying long-term warming trend, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud: “The provisional information for 2014 means that fourteen of the fifteen warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century. There is no standstill in global warming.”

“What we saw in 2014 is consistent with what we expect from a changing climate. Record-breaking heat combined with torrential rainfall and floods destroyed livelihoods and ruined lives. What is particularly unusual and alarming this year are the high temperatures of vast areas of the ocean surface, including in the northern hemisphere.”

Informing the COP20 climate conference in Lima

The provisional statement was published to inform the UN  climate change negotiations taking place in Lima, Peru. Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “Our climate is changing and every year the risks of extreme weather events and impacts on humanity rise.

“Fortunately our political climate is changing too with evidence that governments, supported by investors, business and cities are moving towards a meaningful, universal climate agreement in Paris 2015 — an agreement that keeps a global temperature rise below 2 degrees C by putting in place the pathways to a deep de-carbonisation of the world’s economy and climate neutrality or ‘net zero’ in the second half of the century.”

What, no El Niño?

Unusually, the high January to October temperatures occurred in the absence of a full El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

ENSO occurs when warmer than average sea-surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific combine, in a self-reinforcing loop, with atmospheric pressure systems, thus affecting weather patterns globally.

During the year, sea surface temperatures increased nearly to El Niño thresholds but this was not coupled with an atmospheric response. However, many weather and climate patterns normally associated with El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) were observed in many parts of the world.

“Record-high greenhouse gas emissions and associated atmospheric concentrations are committing the planet to a much more uncertain and inhospitable future. WMO and its Members will continue to improve forecasts and services to help people cope with more frequent and damaging extreme weather and climate conditions”, commented Mr Jarraud.

Report Highlights

Land surface temperatures

Average surface air temperatures over land for January to October 2014 were about 0.86°C above the 1961-1990 average, the fourth or fifth warmest for the same period on record.

Western North America, Europe, eastern Eurasia, much of Africa, large areas of South America and southern and western Australia were especially warm. Cooler-than-average conditions for the year-to-date were recorded across large areas of the United States and Canada and parts of central Russia.

Heatwaves occurred in South Africa, Australia and Argentina in January. Australia saw another prolonged warm spell in May. Record heat affected northern Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil in October.  Notable cold waves were reported in the U.S. during the winter, Australia in August and in Russia in October.

Ocean heat

Global sea-surface temperatures were the highest on record, at about 0.45°C above the 1961-1990 average.

Sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific approached El Niño thresholds. They were also unusually high in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, across the north and north-east Pacific as well as the polar and subtropical North Atlantic, southwest Pacific, parts of the South Atlantic and in much of the Indian Ocean.

Temperatures were particularly high in the Northern Hemisphere from June to October for reasons which are subject to intense scientific investigation.

Ocean heat content for January to June was estimated down to depths of 700m and 2000m and both were the highest recorded.

Around 93% of the excess energy trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and other human activities ends up in the oceans. Therefore, the heat content of the oceans is key to understanding the climate system.

Sea level and sea ice

As the oceans warm, their volume increases through thermal expansion. Water from the melting of ice sheets and glaciers also contributes to sea level rise. Local variations in sea level are affected by currents, tides, storms and large-scale climate patterns like El Niño. In early 2014, global-average measured sea-level reached a record high for the time of year.

Arctic sea-ice extent reached its annual minimum extent of 5.02 million km2 on 17 September and was the sixth lowest on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Antarctic daily sea ice reached a maximum daily extent of 20.11 million km2 on 22 September, setting a new record for the third consecutive year. The changes in the atmospheric circulation observed in the past three decades, which resulted in changes in the prevailing winds around Antarctica, are considered by scientists as factors related to this increase. However, it is possible that this increase is due to a combination of factors that also include effects of changing ocean circulation.

Flooding

Twelve major Atlantic storms affected the United Kingdom through the winter 2013/14 and the UK winter was the wettest on record, with 177% of the long-term average precipitation. In May, devastating floods in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia affected more than two million people.

In Russia, in late May and early June, more than twice the monthly average precipitation fell in Altai, Khakassia and Tuva republics in southern Siberia.

In September, southern parts of the Balkan Peninsula received over 250% of the monthly average rainfall and, in parts of Turkey, over 500% of normal.

July and August were very wet in France with the two-month total being the highest on record (records begin 1959). Between 16 and 20 September, parts of southern France recorded more than 400mm of rainfall – three to four times the normal monthly average.

Heavy rain in central and southern Morocco in November caused severe flooding. At Guelmim, 126mm of rain fell in four days, the monthly average for November is 17mm and the average for the year is 120mm.

The monthly precipitation over the Pacific side of western Japan for August 2014 was 301% of normal, which was the highest since area-averaged statistics began in 1946.

In August and September, heavy rains caused severe flooding in northern Bangladesh, northern Pakistan and India, affecting millions of people.

Buenos Aires and northeastern provinces of Argentina were severely affected by flooding. In February, many stations in northern and central Argentina reported record rainfall totals for the month.

In May and June, precipitation totals in excess of 250% of the long term average were recorded in Paraguay, southern Bolivia and parts of south east Brazil. The heavy rain led to flooding on the Parana River which particularly affected Paraguay, where more than 200,000 people were affected.

On 29 and 30 April, torrential rain fell across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast of United States causing significant flash flooding. At one location in Florida, the two-day precipitation total was a record 519.9 mm.

Drought

Precipitation in the southern part of Northeast China and parts of the Yellow River basin and Huaihe River basin did not reach half of the summer average, causing severe drought.

Parts of Central America suffered rainfall deficits in the summer. Parts of eastern and some areas of central Brazil are in a state of severe drought with severe water deficits extending back more than two years. São Paulo city has been particularly affected with a severe shortage of stored water.

As of mid-November 2014, large areas of the western U.S. remained in drought with areas of California, Nevada and Texas having received less than 40% of the 1961-1990 average. Canada experienced dry conditions at the start of 2014 with many regions only receiving 50-70% of the baseline average in the west and north between January and April.

At the start of the year, northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland in Australia had long-term rainfall deficiencies.

Tropical cyclones

Until 13 November, 72 tropical storms – storms where wind speeds equalled or exceeded 17.5 m/s (63 km/hr) were recorded, fewer than the 1981-2010 average of 89 storms.

In the North Atlantic basin there were only eight named storms. The Eastern North Pacific basin saw above average hurricane activity, with 20 named storms.

In the Western North Pacific basin, twenty named tropical cyclones formed between 18 January and 20 November, slightly below the 1981-2010 average of twenty-four storms (to the end of November).

Ten of the cyclones reached typhoon intensity. Typhoons Nakri and Halong, contributed to the high precipitation totals recorded in western Japan in August. Typhoon Rammasun displaced more than half a million people in the Philippines and China in July.

The North Indian Ocean basin recorded three storms, slightly below the 1981-2010 average of four storms. Two of these storms – Hud Hud and Nilofar – became very severe cyclonic storms.

Australia experienced a slightly-below-average number of tropical storms in 2014, with four cyclones making landfall.

In the South West Indian Ocean basin, a total of eight named tropical storms formed during the period from 1st January to April. For the full season, which started in 2013, nine storms formed, equal to the long-term average.

In the South West Pacific basin, six storms formed in addition to four in the Australian region; the combined total of 10 storms is slightly below the long-term average of 12 storms.

Greenhouse gases

The latest analysis of observations by the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme shows that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) reached new highs in 2013. Data for 2014 have not yet been processed.

Globally-averaged atmospheric levels of CO2 reached 396.0 parts per million (ppm), approximately 142% of the pre-industrial average. The increase from 2012 to 2013 was 2.9 ppm which is the largest year to year increase, with a number of stations in the Northern hemisphere recording levels above 400 ppm.

The overall increase in atmospheric CO2 from 2003 to 2013 corresponds to around 45% of the CO2 emitted by human activities. The remaining 55% is absorbed by the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere.

CH4 concentrations in the atmosphere reached a new high of 1824 parts per billion (ppb) in 2013. That is approximately 253% of the pre-industrial level. Global concentrations of N2O reached 325.9 ± 0.1 ppb, 121% of the pre-industrial level.

NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index shows that from 1990 to 2013, radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 34%. CO2 alone accounted for 80% of the increase.

 

 

The WMO statement: Provisional Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2014.

 

 




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