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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Community Energy Scotland @cescotland.bsky.social · Sep 8

Our first ask is a target: 🎯 1GW of community-owned energy by 2030.

That's 10x higher than now. Ambitious? Yes, but achievable.
@rescoop.eu say "In EU countries with such goals in place, clear policy signals and investor confidence has led to significant growth of the community energy movement.”

Photo of 6 people plus a collie dog, standing in front of and spaced out from a small wind turbine. There is a low landscape and cloudy blue sky behind them. White text on the image says: "Ask #1: 1GW of community-owned energy by 2030."

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Stockholm Environment Institute @sei.org · Aug 12

⚖️🔋 What does a just transition mean for #CommunityEnergy in the UK?

Join our live Q&A with @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social on how community energy can drive a fairer #NetZero, and why justice must be at the heart of the UK’s energy future.

👉 Find out more: buff.ly/5gXjykO

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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · Jun 11

The world isn't silent on Gaza - this is by far the most vocal I have seen the general public on a political issue in my lifetime. I have also never seen a bigger difference between the anger of the public and the inaction of specific institutions and governments. That's the crucial disconnect.

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 28

“But it’s difficult and takes time!” I hear you cry. Absolutely. Which is why we need to ensure the business case in the same way we ensure revenues for big projects, and get serious about shared ownership on projects already underway. The value on offer is enormous - not least for public support.

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 28

A recent piece from me on some of the challenges and opportunities, and making it work for lower income and working class communities too www.regen.co.uk/insights/com...

Regen

www.regen.co.uk

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 28

We’ve known community energy punches well above its weight for some time. It’s not just about energy - it’s about wealth, resilience, engagement, power and prosperity. It’s also really popular. It won’t do ‘net zero’ alone, but it has to be a core pillar of any successful, just transition.

Platform @platform1983.bsky.social · May 28

🧵 REVEALED: Community energy projects in Scotland are generating 100x more local wealth than privately-owned wind farms.

But just 0.5% of the renewable power is community-owned. Why this staggering imbalance?

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Platform @platform1983.bsky.social · May 28

🧵 REVEALED: Community energy projects in Scotland are generating 100x more local wealth than privately-owned wind farms.

But just 0.5% of the renewable power is community-owned. Why this staggering imbalance?

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · May 27

Fact check: it's natural gas, not renewables, keeping electricity prices high in the UK.

www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-wh...

Factcheck: Why expensive gas – not net-zero – is keeping UK electricity prices so high - Carbon Brief

The UK’s high electricity prices have become intensely political, with competing claims over the cause of rocketing bills and how best to get them down.

www.carbonbrief.org

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · May 27

Proud to have put my name, with so many colleagues, to this brilliantly drafted letter

Hundreds of lawyers call for UK sanctions on Israel over Gaza war

Their letter warns of genocide in Gaza, and calls on the UK to take concrete actions to meet its international legal obligations.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 27

Cc: @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @ketanjoshi.co

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 15

Tl;dr - austerity/inequality erodes trust in gov and institutions > also drives far right support > if Labour won’t change course, the best counter is to unashamedly make decarbonisation work against austerity/inequality/declining living standards at its core (recognising most people still want it!)

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · May 13

#OtD 13 May 2021 local residents in Glasgow won the release of two people who had been detained by immigration officers by surrounding the vehicle and blockading it for several hours stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8509/glasgow-deportat...

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Ross Macfarlane @rossmacfarlane.bsky.social · May 10

Permits, we don't need no stinking permits. In a textbook case of environmental injustice, Elon Musk is poisoning the air in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood in Memphis with unpermitted gas turbines to power his "Grok" AI facility 1/. @politico.com

'How come I can’t breathe?': Musk's data company draws a backlash in Memphis

The company’s turbines — enough to power 280,000 homes — run without emission controls in an area that leads Tennessee in asthma hospitalizations.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Leo Murray @crisortunity.bsky.social · May 13

Unforgivable

The Guardian @theguardian.com · May 13

Food security experts warn Gaza at ‘critical risk of famine’ amid Israeli blockade

Report by UN-backed consortium of specialists tells of ‘major deterioration’ since its last assessment in October * Middle East crisis – live updates Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. In its most recent report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday there had been a “major deterioration” in the food security situation in Gaza since its last assessment in October 2024 and that Palestinians living there faced “a critical risk of famine”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · May 13

So if a Global North govt chases the wish of retreating from the world, this is because they are deeply cynical, gravely misguided, or desperately afraid. It may work for an election, it may work for one short period of time, but global crises will eventually find you and the looks won’t be pretty.

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 13

The biggest threat to ‘net zero’ in the UK isn’t the far right: it’s Labour aping their talking points and failing to tackle the austerity and inequality that drives their support. We have to marry these together. Some thoughts from me fraserjfstewart-17.medium.com/picking-up-b...

Picking up bricks

The first time the police arrived at my door because of something I’d done, I was 11 years old. A friend and I had gotten bored one grey…

fraserjfstewart-17.medium.com

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · May 12

Normalise telling people their 'concerns' are not, in fact, 'legitimate'.

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · May 8

Reform UK's attempted assault on clean energy infrastructure will have costs for Lincolnshire = not a rich county

Too often accusation is all about net-zero zealotry being expensive. Capital investment for sure. But anti-net-zero zealotry definitely has costs

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Reform’s green energy assault in Lincolnshire ‘puts 12,200 jobs at risk’

Party intends to block projects despite net zero industries contributing nearly £1bn to local economy, analysis shows

www.theguardian.com

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · May 4

The effect of Israel’s total siege on Gaza has become catastrophic, doctors say. Shortages of food, water and medicine are prompting a surge of preventable illnesses, and deaths. nyti.ms/3GzOJV1

Children and young men, reaching for food, extend arms holding pots and pans. A headline reads: "As Israel's Blockade Grinds On, Gazan Children Go Hungry And Patients Die" Photo by Saher Alghorra for The New York Times

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 3

The only way around it is to get serious about actually improving things for people. It’s not coming from government. That means a lot of work to be done by the rest of us in communities, work places etc to build capacity, take ownership and organise.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · May 1

"...for protests to succeed, they must be backed by movements with the ability to promise to withhold—labor, debt payments, rent payments, or consumer support—and to follow through if demands aren’t met."

Glad to have gotten the opportunity to push this line in Time

time.com/collections/...

Why Protests Should Be Promises

Modern movements that aim to advance racial equity should withhold and promise, rather than perform, writes Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

time.com

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Reposted by Fraser Stewart

Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · May 1

I was on Reporting Scotland last night discussing what the closure of Grangemouth oil refinery, large local job losses and threats to our energy security. This unjust transition could have been avoided if governments had acted. Workers advocated viable greener alternatives. First report ⬇️

Reporting Scotland - News at Seven: 30/04/2025

www.bbc.co.uk

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 1

PS. None of this is to do down the immense work happening in the sector or the value that 'net zero' absolutely can deliver. But to do it in a way that brings people along, tackles injustices and makes lives better, we have to be prepared to recognise and challenge the failures of business-as-usual.

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 1

(More in an extended personal essay on this soon)

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Fraser Stewart @fraserjfstewart.bsky.social · May 1

This will mean some uncomfortable conversations about who pays, owns, gets a say and to what end in all of this. But if we don't, I worry that we will ultimately seed alienation at best and resentment at worst (and leave a tonne of value untapped).

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