Simon Roach

Senior investigative journalist @Global_Witness | formerly @Channel4News | DMs open - message me for Signal contact | he/him

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

And exclusive coverage by the BBC here 👇

https://t.co/04nVgD3BDf

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

🚨NEW🚨

We went undercover in the run up to COP29 and found Azeri officials willing to facilitate talks about new fossil fuel deals at the UN climate conference.

Full story here: https://t.co/FP8KVbaOcM via @global_witness

[Esme Stallard @EsmeStallard]

Amazon deforestation is well known

But the savannah next door, the Cerrado, is almost as important - it hosts 5% of the worlds species!
But deforestation is plaguing it

In my latest piece I cover @Global_Witness report looking at the impact of the beef trade with @bbcbrasil

[Elisângela Mendonça (Lili) @lilimendonca]

📣 Job alert: Are you a financial journalist passionate about holding power to account? Look no further and come join our brilliant Forests team 🌳 at @Global_Witness (🧵1)

https://t.co/kYq4qLYUwz

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

News from me: I’ve left @Channel4News & joined @Global_Witness as senior investigative journalist. What a huge privilege it’s been to work on IMO the most vital nightly news prog — and now another uncovering the drivers & financiers of deforestation with a brilliant team at GW.

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

An undercover sting operation has exposed a Saudi Arabian government plan to artificially raise global oil demand just days before climate crisis talks begin in the UAE, Channel 4 News can reveal.

[Simon Evans @DrSimEvans]

THREAD

Rishi Sunak's UK climate policy U-turns "made meeting future targets harder" says @theCCCuk

Sunak's cranked up risks to emissions cuts in buildings, transport & electricity

Contrary to Sunak, CCC says rollbacks "likely to incr…energy bills & motoring costs for hholds"

[C4 News FactCheck @FactCheck]

What role did climate change cause in the Libya floods? @FactCheck takes a look:
https://t.co/yV4LlvNRjI

[Hannah Ritchie @_HannahRitchie]

Heat pumps are our best shot at decarbonising heating.

The UK is doing very badly on this.

But the rest of Europe is showing that:
1. It can be done
2. They work in colder climates than ours

[Simon Evans @DrSimEvans]

NEW

The UK government has just quietly published estimates showing wind and solar will be several times cheaper than gas, for the foreseeable future

A few senior cabinet members (& a large section of the media) might like to take a look?

THREAD with charts + caveats

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

Super piece by @ChloeFarand about how longterm natural gas contracts may lock some countries into carbon-heavy, debt-ridden futures.

https://t.co/PLcm24Hweh

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

This is a great explanation by John Abraham about how the heating oceans are likely to make weather everywhere more extreme 👇

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

‘A warming ocean puts weather on steroids.’

Climate scientist John Abraham tells @krishgm our weather is getting ‘wilder’ as the ocean temperatures rise.

https://t.co/MiJCpMUhgT

[Nanette van der Laan @NanettevdLaan]

Breaking: more than 50 MPs and Peers are urging the government not to approve the #Rosebank oil field - if it goes ahead its emissions would be more than the combined annual CO2 emissions of all 28 low-income countries in the world

[Hannah Ritchie @_HannahRitchie]

A common confusion is that to decarbonise, the world will need to produce the equivalent of coal, oil & gas in the form of low-carbon energy.

That's not true.

Most fossil energy gets wasted. In the US, just one-third gets turned into useful services. The rest is wasted as heat.

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

There’s more on this final point from @DrSimEvans here 👇

[Simon Evans @DrSimEvans]

2) Next, Sunak falsely claims domestic oil & gas is "better for the climate"

But extracting more oil & gas is likely to mean the world burns more oil & gas – econ 101

Per CCC, net global impact is more CO2 – even if 97% of UK oil prod. or 86% gas is offset by cuts elsewhere

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

FACTCHECK

The prime minister Rishi Sunak has claimed this week that using our own natural gas is better for the climate because it's "four times" cleaner than gas imported from abroad.

Is that true?

Disclaimer: not really.

https://t.co/6hsKdxGjKP

[Simon Roach @RoachSN]

The bottom line: gas produced here is slightly cleaner than some imports, but if you're adding to the total global stock of gas to be burnt - as the government is suggesting - emissions will go up. Regardless of where it's from.

[Georgina Lee @lee_georgina]

Have a read of @RoachSN's latest @FactCheck 👇