In Detail, In Brief: Climate Change and the Weather
- Bristol South
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Talking about the weather is one of the great British past-times, probably as a result of its unpredictability. Our climate has historically been mild and very changeable, with uncertainty day-to-day on whether to expect rain or shine.
This year has felt very different.
It seems a long time ago, but last winter was exceptionally wet and mild in southern England, with scarcely a frost.
In May record high temperatures were recorded across the country from Cornwall to Durham, with 163 weather stations breaking local records and 23 surpassing the previous maximum temperature record of 32.8°C set in 1922 and 1944.
July saw southern England experience the driest month since records were first collected in 1836. The temperature for the month was 2 degrees above the long term average, but this should not really be a surprise. Last year broke records too, as the UK’s warmest and sunniest on record, but that record had only been set in 2022.
The likely impact of climate change on us all, warned of decades ago, is now a reality. The question is what is the government doing to help reduce potential future temperature rises?
Tackling emissions of greenhouse gases is ongoing, with a commitment to clean power by 2030.
For nearly 150 years the burning of coal was a key part of electricity generation, this ended on 30 September 2024 making the UK the first of the major economies to phase out coal. Over 300 renewable energy projects are currently under construction with a combined capacity of more than 18 giga watts of clean electricity. Since the General Election in 2024, agreement has been reached for new clean power to supply the equivalent of 23 million homes.
The biggest source of greenhouse gases is domestic transport. Here in Bristol South, we have seen £150 million of government money allocated to the West of England to roll out a fleet of brand new air conditioned electric buses and the infrastructure they need. In total over 250 vehicles will be covering routes across Bristol and the surrounding areas as of this summer.
Sales of all electric cars leapt by 44.5% last month and, by the end of the year, they are expected to make up more than a quarter of all new cars, backed by a government grant of up to £3,750. In June, outdated rules which treated some electric vans the same as the largest HGVs were scrapped by the government, making it easier for delivery and distribution companies to move away from polluting diesel.
One other major source of emissions is domestic heating, so there are also government grants of £7,500 for new heat pumps, to replace gas heating systems.
The transition from mainly gas fired heating will not be swift, and our energy grid will continue to need gas to backstop gaps in renewable generation for some time, so we will probably need to continue to utilise those gas fields in the North Sea which have already been approved.
We are not the only country taking these actions, some have gone much faster. Sweden and France already produce almost all their electricity from zero-carbon sources. Denmark has demonstrated what can be achieved by recording the largest sustained growth in clean energy generation, rising from 16% in 2000 to 94% in 2025. We have international agreements to share power with Belgium, France, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and Ireland.
These are all actions to tackle emissions and a separate blog post will focus on how we can mitigate the impacts of our changing weather.
