Will Vowell
@willvowell.bsky.social
150 followers 240 following 16 posts
Programme lead, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit @eciu.net | previously: comms for Caroline Lucas | views my own | he/him 🏳️‍🌈
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Reposted by Will Vowell
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
The Telegraph has just published *yet another* correction to one of its net-zero articles.

By my count, that is now the ELEVENTH such correction since Labour won the election (and covers 14 separate articles).

I have now added the latest one to my epic thread which is tracking these corrections...
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
"We are happy to correct the record."
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
Why are bills going up by £100 in April?

R4 Today's Nick Robinson claimed "People say bills are going to go up... because *you’re determined not to use fossil fuels*"

With many households still struggling with the cost of living, let's look at what's *actually* happening...
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
💵 ENERGY BILLS & RENEWABLES

How much are they going up by?
Why are they going up?
What are the long-term causes of high bills?

A short 🧵 on why the answer isn't all blowing in the wind...
Reposted by Will Vowell
drsimevans.carbonbrief.org
Oops! The Times has had to issue an embarrassing correction over supposedly "sluggish" EV sales 😳

❌ It said EV sales to private buyers fell 10.8% this yr
✅They actually GREW…by 62%

Yet Times articles still claim a "big fall", "collapse" & "slide" in private EV sales 🤔
1/7
Reposted by Will Vowell
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
It seems to be contagious.

Now the Sun is also having to correct it heavily biased coverage of net-zero in response to, you know, actual facts...
Reposted by Will Vowell
gredmondking.bsky.social
Nice to see @theguardian.com print my letter in response to Simon Jenkins’ ill-informed article about wind farms and net zero.

Net zero isn’t a woolly “political ambition” - it’s a scientific concept that is required to stop climate change.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Will Vowell
drsimevans.carbonbrief.org
MEDIA STUDIES: How the Times bungled its coverage of the OBR report on climate change & UK govt debt

Yesterday's newspaper reported a major shift: "The OBR now thinks…net-zero will have a far more damaging impact on borrowing…"

In fact, the OBR had said the opposite!
1/6
willvowell.bsky.social
There is a Clean Heat Market Mechanism, which places an obligation on manufacturers of gas boilers to meet targets for the installation of heat pumps in proportion to their sales of gas boilers. This scheme *does not ban gas heating systems*.

www.gov.uk/guidance/cle...
Clean Heat Market Mechanism: who it applies to, annual tasks
Check if you're affected by the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM). See what actions you must take each scheme year.
www.gov.uk
willvowell.bsky.social
The evidence:

In January 2025, giving evidence to the ESNZ Select Committee, when asked if “there will be a ban on installing new gas boilers in existing homes from 2035”, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “There will not be a ban.”

committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
committees.parliament.uk
willvowell.bsky.social
Embarrassing error from Juliet Samuel in the Times, writing: "gas heating bans will destroy boiler manufacturing".

Except there is no gas heating ban of any kind, nor plans for any.

Glad the inaccuracy has now been corrected - shame it happened in the first place.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
Well this is strange 🧐

Yesterday the @telegraphnews.bsky.social had an article about Ofgem's much-needed £24bn investment in upgrading the gas and electricity networks.

The author correctly stated that the *net increase* on an energy bill would be £24/yr by 2031

(£104/yr added, £80 saving):
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch's oil & gas speech: "When the oil and gas windfall tax was brought in, the oil price was near a historic high...but for months there has not been a windfall to tax"

The global oil price today, after conflict in Israel / Iran overnight📈

tradingeconomics.com/commodity/cr...
Reposted by Will Vowell
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
The Telegraph has just published *yet another* correction to one of its net-zero articles.

By my count, that is now the TENTH such correction since Labour won the election (and covers 13 separate articles).

I have now added the latest one to my epic thread which is tracking these corrections...
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
"We are happy to correct the record."
Reposted by Will Vowell
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
The Telegraph is now having to publish so many corrections to articles where it attempts to find *any angle whatsoever* to attack net-zero polices that it makes sense to start tracking them here.

These are the ones published since Labour won the election.

"We are happy to correct the record."
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
Melanie Phillips had a misleading column in
@thetimes.com yesterday

Claiming "net zero targets" have driven up energy prices, when actually it's the cost of gas

Here's a letter in this morning's paper challenging it.
willvowell.bsky.social
Here’s the BBC being forced to correct its article about pylons, for including a figure which in reality was *600 times smaller* than it originally (and erroneously) stated.

Media misinformation on this topic is something to behold.
jessralston.bsky.social
In January, the BBC wrote an article fear mongering about pylons "springing up" across the country

It contained some wildly misleading figures which spread to other newspapers.

I'm glad to say they've FINALLY been corrected. Here's what happened...🧵

bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
Yesterday, Ross Clark claimed in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social

"The likely fall in the energy price cap will be purely a reaction to lower wholesale prices on international markets... it is simply markets at work"

Is this the same Ross Clark who blames "net zero" every time bills go up? 🧵😂
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
The @telegraphnews.bsky.social claims that the 'boiler tax' has returned.

Has it? Was it even there in the first place? And what about claims that heat pump demand is "flatlining"?

& did the boiler companies ensure that the boiler tax they collected was returned to 'ripped off' consumers?🧵
Reposted by Will Vowell
jessralston.bsky.social
@telegraphnews.bsky.social columnist Zoe Strimpel's opening sentence in a column this weekend states: "Ed Miliband is obsessed." [with net zero]

The Telegraph has written over 110 articles with "Miliband" in the title so far this year

That's one article every 30ish hours

Who's obsessed now?
Reposted by Will Vowell
tommlancaster.bsky.social
Interesting @theipaper.com story highlighting claims by the Food & Drink Federation that higher NI contributions and new food packaging levies are increasing prices.

But here's something they don't mention... what about climate change? 🧵 inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Reposted by Will Vowell
leohickman.carbonbrief.org
Private Eye calls out "former newspaper" Daily Telegraph over its woeful coverage of net-zero
willvowell.bsky.social
Six months ago, IPSO upheld our complaint against the Telegraph for its article falsely claiming rail delays due to extreme weather were falling (they weren’t).

Today, the facts are clear: 7,000 trains were delayed last year from floods alone. @roundourwayuk.bsky.social

inews.co.uk/news/environ...
Nearly 7,000 trains delayed last year by floods
Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request lay bare the sheer scale of disruptions caused by flooding last year
inews.co.uk
Reposted by Will Vowell
gredmondking.bsky.social
A @thetimes.com editorial yesterday suggested ditching the term ‘net zero’ in favour of ‘not quite zero’ instead…

To be fair to them, they did print a letter from me, commenting on that today though.
Letter reading: Sir, Your editorial ("Not Zero", May 1) about Sir Tony Blair states: "Rather than net zero, not quite zero might be a better goal." In fact net zero is just that: not quite zero.
The continued existence of some greenhouse gas emissions is almost inevitable, but net zero (or not quite zero, as you might put it), would mean those excess emissions were captured and stored and/or removed from the atmosphere via trees or technology. It is important to remember that net zero is a scientific concept, and unless we stop adding more emissions to the atmosphere we will not halt climate change.
Gareth Redmond-King
Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit,
London SE1