Senior investigative journalist @Global_Witness | formerly @Channel4News | DMs open - message me for Signal contact | he/him
Sheffield/London
Joined August 2011
- Tweets877
- Following1.8K
- Followers4K
- Likes394
🚨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: globalwitness.org/en/campaig… via @global_witness
Simon Roach retweeted
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
Simon Roach retweeted
📣 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)
globalwitness.org/en/jobs/fi…
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.
Simon Roach retweeted
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 Roach retweeted
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"
Simon Roach retweeted
What role did climate change cause in the Libya floods? @FactCheck takes a look:
channel4.com/news/factcheck/…
Simon Roach retweeted
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 Roach retweeted
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
Super piece by @ChloeFarand about how longterm natural gas contracts may lock some countries into carbon-heavy, debt-ridden futures.
theguardian.com/world/2023/a…
This is a great explanation by John Abraham about how the heating oceans are likely to make weather everywhere more extreme 👇
‘A warming ocean puts weather on steroids.’
Climate scientist John Abraham tells @krishgm our weather is getting ‘wilder’ as the ocean temperatures rise.
channel4.com/news/a-warming-…
Simon Roach retweeted
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
🆕NEW: More than 50 MPs and Peers have written to @grantshapps urging him not to approve the Rosebank oil field.
Green lighting Rosebank:
❌Won’t make energy affordable
❌Won’t make Britain secure
❌Threatens nature
❌Destroys UK climate leadership
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-6…
Simon Roach retweeted
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.
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.
channel4.com/news/factcheck/…
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.
There’s more on this final point from @DrSimEvans here 👇
Simon Roach retweeted
Have a read of @RoachSN's latest @FactCheck 👇
Rishi Sunak says North Sea gas is 'four times' less polluting than gas imported from abroad. But there's more to this claim than meets the eye. @FactCheck takes a look...
channel4.com/news/factcheck/…