Doug Parr
@dougparr.bsky.social
10K followers 1.1K following 1.1K posts
@greenpeaceuk.bsky.social chief scientist, policy director View are all my own, except those I've borrowed
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dougparr.bsky.social
Sharp rise in UK plastic exports shows how behind the country is

The EU has agreed to ban exports of waste to poorer nations. The ban comes into force in November 2026

The UK does not have a similar ban in place

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK plastic waste exports to developing countries rose 84% in a year, data shows
Campaigners say increase in exports mostly to Malaysia and Indonesia is ‘unethical and irresponsible waste imperialism’
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Carbon offsetting suffers from deep-seated systemic problems that incremental change will not solve says review paper from Oxford Uni

“We have assessed 25 years of evidence and almost everything up until this point has failed”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says
Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
In the first half of 2025, renewables became the biggest source of global electricity for the first time, as wind & solar growth exceeded global demand growth

Shocking that it's China & India leading - EU & USA have fossil power growing

ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
dougparr.bsky.social
The US is destroying its chance of global leadership in electric vehicles. EU also lagging

Globally, EVs are on an expanding trend and the tech is set to be dominated by China

This was not inevitable, but the result of poor political choices by the West

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
dougparr.bsky.social
“UK experienced worst inflationary crisis in 4 decades, triggered by fossil fuel price spikes, which UK’s monetary policy approach failed to address"

By raising interest rates, Bank of England increased cost of huge public investment needed to exit fossil fuels

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Bank of England urged to do more to tackle climate crisis
Environmental groups mark 10 years since Mark Carney’s ‘short-term horizons’ speech with plea to act ‘while there’s still time’
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Kier Starmer in 2022 🫠😡

“Many people would be expecting the prime minister of the UK not just to attend COP but to use it as an opportunity to pull world leaders together to deal with climate. If I was prime minister I would be going.”

www.ft.com/content/5f8f...
Keir Starmer has no plans to attend COP30 climate summit in Brazil
Final decision has yet to be made amid ‘big fight inside government’ over trip by prime minister
www.ft.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Planetary Boundaries are being breached, as humanity lives beyond Earth's ability to cope

We're already exceeding Climate Change, Land System Change, Freshwater Use, Novel Entities (chemicals, plastics) & others

To that list we can now add Ocean Acidification

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life
Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressed
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
ICYMI
Global investment in energy likely to hit about $3.3 trillion (£2.4tn) this year

More than $1tn of the total is still likely to flow into fossil fuels

But double that amount – about $2.2tn – expected for low-carbon energy

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Global investment in renewable energy up 10% on 2024 despite Trump rollback
Growth rate slightly lower than previous first-half years but sector still strong and resilient, experts say
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
BBC calling Trump's address to UN 'remarkable'

Let's call it what it is - unhinged

Anyone who thinks London is heading for sharia law & that climate change is a con is either foolish, malign or misinformed

US President shouldn't be misinformed - it's one of other 2

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
Trump takes aim at other countries' border and climate policies in wide-ranging UN speech - live updates
Trump says Europe is
www.bbc.co.uk
dougparr.bsky.social
This is awkward for Nigel Farage - a Reform UK mayor is standing up for his local area, which means supporting green energy with jobs & investment it brings

Is the Farage line is that he should impoverish his area in pursuit of Reform’s wider ideological agenda?

www.bbc.com/news/article...
'I'm all for green energy', says Reform UK's Hull mayor Luke Campbell
The mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire says he is "all for" cleaner air and green energy.
www.bbc.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Like readership, like political parties. My intuition is there's now a bunch of moderate right-of-centre people (for convenience often referred to as "One Nation Tories") who have no political home. Could be a politically potent force if someone made them an offer. No data to back that up though
dougparr.bsky.social
The BBC website brilliantly displays politics ability to ignore the long term, in this case on climate change, to make decisions that are self immolating in the name of apparent short term interest
dougparr.bsky.social
Just checked - not being recorded I'm afraid :-(
dougparr.bsky.social
Just checked - afraid not being recorded :-(
dougparr.bsky.social
yeah that's my bad - meant to send this out 48 hrs ago but urgent stuff drove it from my mind
dougparr.bsky.social
If UK readers are in Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrats conference today you'd be welcome to this event where I'll be on the panel at 1pm talking about land, democracy, and nature

Outside the secure zone so no pass needed
dougparr.bsky.social
Trump is in today’s State Visit press conference saying wind power is "a disaster, a very expensive joke"

Presumably he didn’t realise every other light 💡 and microphone 🎤 in that press conference was being powered by wind
dougparr.bsky.social
NEW: Trump golf course in Scotland has breached sewage contamination limits 14 times since 2019

Groundwater samples breached contamination levels for oxygen demand, suspended solid particles & ammoniacal nitrogen - indicating human waste not properly treated

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
No way any govt in EU or UK should take lectures from this US administration on freedom of speech

Reeks of hypocrisy. Next time JD Vance stands up and tries to lecture the European continent about free speech, someone just needs to say "New York Times"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Donald Trump says he is bringing $15bn lawsuit against New York Times
US president announces defamation and libel action in Florida, accusing title of being ‘virtual mouthpiece’ for Democrats
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
The Thames river has some of the highest-recorded levels of microplastics in the world — scientists estimate flows of about 94,000 pieces per second in some areas

There is no statutory monitoring of plastic pollution on the Thames or other English rivers

www.thetimes.com/uk/london/ar...
Thames campaigners call for ban on flimsy plastic pint cups
London activists warn that plastic pollution is threatening the river’s water quality, urging ministers to end the reliance on single-use cups across the UK
www.thetimes.com
dougparr.bsky.social
"SUV loophole" allows heavier and more polluting cars, which cause disproportionate damage to roads & increased safety risk to pedestrians and cyclists, to escape with 20x less tax than other European countries

This partly explains the surge in SUV sales in UK

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s...
UK could raise nearly £2bn by taxing SUVs in line with European countries, study shows
Thinktank says an ‘SUV loophole’ means UK buyers pay up to 20 times less tax on biggest models than in neighbouring nations
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Nigel Topping, new head of the UK Climate Change Committee, key advisers to govt:

“The thing driving high costs now is gas. Very high gas prices right now have added to borrowing because the government’s had to support business and citizens"

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Weakening net zero policy ‘will spook investors’, warns UK’s climate adviser
Nigel Topping says shifting course risks deterring capital, as he urges ministers to hold firm on green transition
www.theguardian.com
dougparr.bsky.social
Meanwhile not a single press or broadcast outlet seemed to approach critical voice for comment

Presumably UK govt sent press release w instructions not to - it's been done before with fracking, for sure

A nuclear renaissance so secure it can't tolerate a single critical, challenging voice?

ENDS