Head of communications at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit @ECIU_UK, also featuring the Net Zero Tracker @NetZeroTracker https://teapaw.org/t.co/rBljoePb3a
Twickenham, London
Joined February 2011
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George Smeeton retweeted
SMMT predicting 23.7% market share for EVs in '25
Saying this means industry won't hit EV sales targets
However, this is ABOVE the 23.1% @New_AutoMotive says the industry needs to hit to comply with the ZEV mandate
Why? Because EV sales aren't the only source of credits
1/5
Industry calls for halt to EV tax hikes as latest outlook anticipates 23.7% market share for 2025 – below government targets.
smmt.co.uk/2025/02/ev-share-…
George Smeeton retweeted
So, tomorrow we get the data for new car sales in January 2025
As always, attention will focus on how EV sales performed
And, of late, quite a few misleading things have been said about EV sales
Here's a thread on what they are, and why they're misleading
George Smeeton retweeted
Climate change scepticism almost extinct from UK national press - but policy scepticism grows
New research from @reutersinstitute.bsky.social for @eciu.net, plus separate analysis from @carbonbrief.org buff.ly/42bsr4J
George Smeeton retweeted
Seeing lots of stories about BLACKOUT BRITAIN
...maybe let's look at what *actually* happened on Wednesday, when National Grid issued 2 notices to generators
(basically asking them to make more power available)
1) the Capacity Market Notice was cancelled within 31 mins‼️
George Smeeton retweeted
An assumption among some comment writers that net zero was the policy which saw the Conservative "haemorrhage votes" at the last election.
Regardless of what one thinks of the policy, polling shows that wasn't the case. Thank you to the @Telegraph for publishing my letter /1
George Smeeton retweeted
Well, this is quite the turaround
Having spent much of 2024 complaining that the ZEV mandate was too hard, @Stellantis has announced that is has successfully met its EV sales targets
Joins the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Hyundai in proving it can be done
media.stellantis.com/uk-en/c…
George Smeeton retweeted
@DefraGovUK have today published the 2024 UK Food Security Report
Since the last report in 2021 we've seen some almighty shocks to our food system
💉 C-19
🌻 Ukraine
⚡️ Energy crisis
⛈️ Climate shocks
Here's a quick 🧵 on what it says about climate...
gov.uk/government/statistics…
George Smeeton retweeted
We have some new analysis out today on *the* biggest problem facing English nature conservation…
…& increasingly climate goals…
…& farm incomes…
It’s the befuddling failure of @DefraGovUK to stand up a higher tier land management scheme
🧵…
independent.co.uk/climate-ch…
NEW: analysis finds that UK car industry is on course to hit the Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Mandate’s sales targets of 22% target for 2024.
by @colinwalker79 for @ECIU_UK:
eciu.net/media/press-release…
George Smeeton retweeted
"Auto Trader forecasts ‘seismic shift’ to electric vehicles in Britain"
"The number of petrol cars on British roads has peaked this year but is set to tumble by more than 40% over the next decade"
theguardian.com/business/202…
George Smeeton retweeted
More poorly informed takes on climate from @RestIsPolitics
Rory Stewart says climate finance for developing countries is "completely the wrong way" to "stop global warming".
Instead G20 should have met for a couple more days to "try to crack this".
A few problems with this...
🗣️ @RoryStewartUK: “The world is literally frying!” 🌍
🗣️ @CampbellClaret: “They wanted 1.3 trillion per year!” 💰
Rory and Alastair discuss the recent #COP29 summit in Baku and how best to tackle the ever-growing threat of climate change with @FuseEnergy #ad
George Smeeton retweeted
Seeing lots of reporting that Government will allow sale of hybrids between 2030 and 2035
Being reported by some as a 'climb down'
Not really
2030 ban was always just on pure petrol/diesels
Hybrids were always allowed until 2035 - only change is what kind of hybrid
A thread
George Smeeton retweeted
Vauxhall told investors it was “confident” it would meet the UK’s rules on EV sales just 2 months before it blamed them for the decision to close its Luton factory
The claim that the ZEV mandate is to blame for the Luton factory closure looking very iffy
theguardian.com/business/202…
George Smeeton retweeted
Slowing down EV transition a ‘recipe for job losses’, says ECIU
channel4.com/news/slowing-do…
George Smeeton retweeted
Note to journalists reporting on EV sales targets
Dr James Richardson, Director of Analysis at @theCCCuk, has said that the car market is *on track to meet this year’s targets for EV sales*
Pls bear this in mind when repeating the industry line that they’re falling way short
George Smeeton retweeted
Andy Palmer, COO of Nissan when Stellantis' Luton factory built Nissan's vans:
“the plant has been called into question many times...for the last 25 years...there’s always been that question mark"
So bit of a stretch to pin blame on EV sales targets that only came in this year
Vauxhall will close its Luton plant in April, the parent company Stellantis announced, putting more than 1,100 jobs at risk.
Former CEO of Aston Martin, @AndyatAuto, speaks to Sky's @darrenmccaffrey about the news.
🔗 trib.al/aNpRrmI
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube
George Smeeton retweeted
So easy, so tempting to just dismiss COP29 - or the entire COP process - as a failure. Please don't do it. Not only would that be intellectually lazy, but also irrresponsible. Of the many slightly more constructive takes, I recommend this one by @James_BG
businessgreen.com/news/43821…
George Smeeton retweeted
Day 12 at #COP29 - we're into overtime. Numbers on finance yesterday were universally panned as way too low & there was a lot of work to do overnight. We're still waiting for new texts this morning...
Daily update: bit.ly/3YWBGCG
Sign up here: bit.ly/3z7eYyY
George Smeeton retweeted
6:00. It came. It went.
And lo, #COP29 did not end.