Recent Carbon Brief articles by Simon Evans

Dr Simon Evans is our deputy editor and policy editor. Simon covers climate and energy policy. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from Bristol University and previously studied chemistry at Oxford University. He worked for environment journal The ENDS Report for six years, covering topics including climate science and air pollution.

• DeBriefed 6 December 2024: Plastics talks collapse; $300bn finance goal analysed; Landmark climate case kicks off
• Interview: Prof Philippe Sands on UN court’s landmark climate-change hearing
• Factcheck: How ‘scary-sounding numbers’ are being used to mislead the UK about net-zero
• Analysis: Cutting the ‘green crap’ has added £22bn to UK energy bills since 2015
• Experts: What do the European elections mean for EU climate action?
• DeBriefed 7 June 2024: Sheinbaum and Modi elected; Hottest May; Factchecking net-zero costs
• Interview: Why global support for climate action is ‘systematically underestimated’
• DeBriefed 16 February 2024: Atlantic and Amazon ‘tipping points’; New ‘troika’ for 1.5C; Global support for climate action ‘underestimated’
• Factcheck: 21 misleading myths about electric vehicles
• Analysis: UK government’s climate U-turns put legally binding targets in jeopardy
• DeBriefed 15 September 2023: G20’s big bet on renewables; Libya’s catastrophe; Interview with IEA chief
• Analysis: UK would need less imported gas under a Labour government
• Analysis: Fuel-duty freezes have increased UK CO2 emissions by up to 7%
• Analysis: UK emissions fall 3.4% in 2022 as coal use drops to lowest level since 1757
• Renewables will be world’s top electricity source within three years, IEA data reveals
• In-depth: Russia’s war means fossil fuels will peak within five years, IEA says
• New fossil fuels ‘incompatible’ with 1.5C goal, comprehensive analysis finds
• Analysis: UK’s gas imports would be 13% lower if it had not ‘cut the green crap’
• Analysis: Why UK energy bills are soaring to record highs – and how to cut them
• Analysis: Record-low price for UK offshore wind is nine times cheaper than gas
• Analysis: Cutting the ‘green crap’ has added £2.5bn to UK energy bills
• Analysis: UK nuclear output falls to lowest level since 1982
• Fossil fuel use ‘will peak by 2025’ if countries meet climate pledges, says IEA
• Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?
• ‘Exceptional new normal’: IEA raises growth forecast for wind and solar by another 25%
• Analysis: UK is now halfway to meeting its ‘net-zero emissions’ target
• Analysis: World has already passed ‘peak oil’, BP figures reveal
• Wind and solar are 30-50% cheaper than thought, admits UK government
• In-depth: Hydrogen ‘required’ to meet UK net-zero goal, says National Grid
• In-depth: BP data reveals clean electricity matched coal for the first time in 2019
• Daily global CO2 emissions ‘cut to 2006 levels’ during height of coronavirus crisis
• Analysis: Great Britain hits coal-free electricity record amid coronavirus lockdown
• Analysis: Coronavirus set to cause largest ever annual fall in CO2 emissions
• Analysis: Fuel-duty freeze has increased UK CO2 emissions by up to 5%
• Analysis: UK’s CO2 emissions have fallen 29% over the past decade
• Analysis: Why coal use must plummet this decade to keep global warming below 1.5C
• Analysis: UK low-carbon electricity generation stalls in 2019
• Analysis: UK electricity generation in 2018 falls to lowest level since 1994
• World can limit global warming to 1.5C ‘without BECCS’
• Global solar capacity grew faster than fossil fuels in 2017, says report
• In-depth: Is Shell’s new climate scenario as ‘radical’ as it says?
• Factcheck: Less than 1% of UK gas supplies come from Russia
• In-depth: Renewables are ‘key’ to lower UK industrial electricity prices
• The EU got less electricity from coal than renewables in 2017
• Analysis: UK government slashes outlook for new gas power plants
• Analysis: Low-carbon sources generated more UK electricity than fossil fuels in 2017
• IEA says world coal demand will rise, despite slashing forecast growth in India
• Solar, wind and nuclear have ‘amazingly low’ carbon footprints, study finds
• Q&A: Will the reformed EU Emissions Trading System raise carbon prices?
• Renewables will give more people access to electricity than coal, says IEA
• Factcheck: Misleading headlines about electric car charging while boiling the kettle
• Mapped: The countries with the highest carbon price
• Mapped: How Germany generates its electricity
• Six charts show UK progress towards low-carbon energy
• The Carbon Brief Interview: Averil Macdonald
• Mapped: The global coal trade
• Analysis: UK solar generation tops coal for the first time
• UK needs a ‘smart power revolution’, says Infrastructure Commission
• Countdown to 2025: Tracking the UK coal phase out
• Carbon capture delay ‘could add £20bn’ to UK climate costs
• Revealed: Emails undermine government’s argument for cutting renewables support
• IEA: China might have passed ‘peak coal’ in 2013
• Explainer: The legal form of the Paris climate agreement
• Look beyond emissions gap to see full force of climate pledges, says UNEP report
• UN report: Climate pledges fall short of cheapest route to 2C limit
• Carbon capture ‘essential’ for climate-friendly fracking in UK, says industry-backed report
• Bonn climate talks ask for draft Paris text
• New nuclear power in UK would be the world’s most costly, says report
• Study: China’s carbon emissions substantially overestimated
• Explainer: How and why the UK government hopes to fast-track fracking
• Mapped: The world’s top countries for nuclear power
• Mapped: The world’s largest offshore windfarms
• A detailed Q&A on Obama’s Clean Power Plan
• Five charts show the historic shifts in UK energy last year
• Hillary Clinton’s renewable goals could significantly raise US climate ambition
• Recession rather than shale gas caused US carbon cuts – study
• Q&A: Has the UK blown its green power budget?
• Budget 2015: Key climate and energy announcements
• German coal compromise leaves doubts over climate goal
• Climate pledge puts China on course to peak emissions as early as 2027
• Updated: Two plans to begin first fracking operations in UK for four years rejected
• UK meets interim renewable energy target, says DECC report
• Onshore wind subsidies: What we know
• IEA: China has greatest potential to raise climate ambition
• The Carbon Brief Interview: Dr Fatih Birol
• 10 charts showing why carbon emissions stalled last year
• Analysis: DECC budget details show limited scope for cuts
• Analysis: Climate change ‘Apollo Programme’ raises both hope and questions
• Climate benefits of a natural gas bridge ‘unlikely to be significant’
• Limiting global warming to 1.5C is still possible, say scientists
• Opposition to fracking increases again, finds Sunday Times poll
• Analysis: How DECC spends its annual budget
• Investigation: Does the UK’s biomass burning help solve climate change?
• 19 reasons why the world is missing the 2C climate change limit
• Flawed assumptions blight Telegraph analysis of UK decarbonisation costs
• Election 2015: What the manifestos say on climate and energy
• Expert views: What the general election means for UK climate and energy policy
• The Carbon Brief Interview: Jeremy Oppenheim
• Climate showdown: Has the US, UK or Germany done more to cut emissions?
• Five ways the UK’s electricity grid is changing