Ever wondered what @NaturalEngland does? I was pleased to record this podcast with the Civil Service Climate & Environment Network, answering questions about our work, why we do it & the context. open.spotify.com/episode/4Jc…

Trump’s vision for “energy dominance” has one big problem: fossil fuels have totally lost in the marketplace. Since 2010, the cost of solar has fallen 89%. Batteries are down 93%. Wind is down 63%. Solar generating capacity has now surpassed coal globally. Battery storage has surpassed pumped hydro. And this isn’t just happening in China or rich countries — clean electric technologies are expanding across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The money has noticed: global investment in electrotech is now roughly twice investment in fossil fuels. The countries that understand that are building the industries of the future. The United States should be leading that race — not pretending we’re still in the 19th century. nytimes.com/2026/09/23/clima…

Interesting.💚 Ecologists walked matching 200-meter transects across solar farms planted for wildlife in England’s East Anglian Fens and counted 35 birds on each solar pass against 12 on the cropland beside it, corn buntings and yellowhammers among the birds now working the rows between the panels Solar farms designed for wildlife are harboring nearly three times more birds than the conventional crops they replaced, challenging long-held assumptions about renewable energy and nature. scienceblog.com/a-ecologists…

Is it possible to foresee a sustainable future for the North Sea, whereby good jobs, investment, clean power & Nature recovery come together? Reflections from a recent visit to Lowestoft, where @NaturalEngland is working with partners to help it happen. naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2…

Those saying solar farms are a problem for taking up land should note this image. Also note that land can be used for animals/crops and panels at the same time in many cases.

Today, we launched the Planetary Health Check 2026. Seven of nine Planetary Boundaries are transgressed, and pressure on all seven is at its highest recorded level. Yet, we still have a window to change course. But we need to move fast. pik-potsdam.de/en/news/lates…

Really great to see this: six Nobel Prize-winning economists (Duflo, Krugman, Diamond, Banerjee, Acemoglu and Stiglitz) just came out in favor of the California billionaire tax. You don't have to be a radical leftist to see why it's a good idea. First, look at the numbers: ten years ago, the richest 0.001% of Californians were worth $700 billion. Today, that same group (about 250 people) is worth $2.3 trillion. From 2019 to 2025, their wealth grew by $1.4 trillion. The California income tax they paid over that period was just 1.6% of that gain. A nurse or a plumber pays a higher state tax rate. Yes, many of these people built great companies, and they've made a lot of money in the process. Good for them! The problem is that wealth on this scale stops being just money. It becomes extraordinary power. In 2000, billionaires accounted for about 1% of all donations in federal elections. In 2024, it was 19%. The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the platform you're reading this on: all owned and controlled by billionaires. Now add AI. If you think power is concentrated now, just wait five years. It's going to get much worse. So, what does Prop 40 actually do? It's a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of California's billionaires. That would raise about $100 billion, enough to offset the federal Medicaid cuts. "But they'll all leave!" the critics say. Nope, they can't. The tax applies to any billionaire who lived in California on January 1, 2026, and the initiative only became public about five weeks before that. "But it'll kill Silicon Valley!" Uh no, that won't happen either. Since the tax was announced, California's share of all new US venture capital has gone up, from about 50% to 80%. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who would be one of the biggest payers, said he would be "perfectly fine" with it and had "not even thought about it once". Sure, some other billionaires can't stop thinking about it. Sergey Brin has already spent more than $100 million to defeat the proposal. At a holiday party in December he pulled Gavin Newson aside and said 'he could not stand the state’s proposed billionaire tax', because he thought the 5% tax would turn California into some kind of Soviet Union. That is, of course, nonsense. This is not going to be some kind of socialist revolution. The proposal is about restoring balance to a mixed economy. You could even argue it's about saving capitalism itself from oligarchs like Sergey Brin. I think that's exactly why Nobel Prize-winning economists are coming out in favor of this tax. If Prop 40 passes in November, it will be the first tax aimed specifically at billionaire wealth anywhere in the world. I think it could be the start of a global movement. Anyway, read the whole letter here. It's really good 👇 gabriel-zucman.eu/files/prop…

Scientists have discovered a new species of cat for the first time in over a century. Smaller than an average housecat and covered in leopard-like spots, the cat species — proposed name Leopardus tilcayo —lives in Bolivia’s Yungas forest ecoregion.

less moisture in soils -> less fungi-> less aerosols -> less clouds ☁️-> more warming -> less moisture in soils -> less fungi -> less aerosols -> less clouds -> more warming and you still think your EV will do the magic 🪄

Wonderful to see these splendid magnificent birds establishing again in England.

Today @NaturalEngland have announced a stunning new NNR to visit, in a land not too far away...

England’s newest National Nature Reserve was declared today: Lyscombe Down, Dorset. A spectacular landscape coming back to life. At @NaturalEngland we are very proud to have worked with @DorsetWildlife & various amazing individuals to get this done, for everyone to enjoy forever.

The destruction of a rainforest for economic growth is equivalent to burning a renaissance painting to cook a meal. You can hear about the great life of E.O. Wilson on BBC Sounds. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0031n…

Ten years ago this month I met E.O. Wilson. I’m very pleased we got a photo to commemorate the moment, not least to accompany this episode of @BBC ‘Great Lives’. Broadcast Monday 21st of September at 15.00. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0031nw…

Wind and solar generation is scaling faster than any other electricity sources in history. This is the time it took for different technologies to grow from 100 TWh to 1,000 TWh of annual electricity generation. ✅ Solar took just 8 years ✅ Wind took 12 years ✅ By comparison, gas took 28 years and coal 32 years And look to the world’s biggest nations: India 🇮🇳 in 2026 became the second largest solar market in the world and the third largest renewable nation. In China 🇨🇳 this year for the first time installed solar capacity passed coal capacity. True milestones! Yet another piece of great news: The price of battery tehcnoloy is falling at a pace similar to the fall in price which made solar and wind so competitive. The drive to renewables is supercharged by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Only the most stubborn fossil fuel advocated can be in doubt - humanity is in the midts of the leap from the age of fossils to the age of solar and wind. How wonderful!

Nature recovery is all about context. This is a really interesting & useful conversation at the Wild Summit this week, hosted by @CraigBennett3 It’s an hour long, but there’s a lot of good stuff packed in so worth it. I listened on a dog walk. piped.video/watch?v=iiTy_U…

Why restoring Nature is a huge opportunity for building resilience to climate change impacts. An essential read as we make plans for the future. rewildingeurope.com/news/rew…

Research published in @TheLancet finds this… ‘The implementation of wealth redistribution policies proposed in recent high-level international agreements could mitigate the health consequences of the current ODA defunding crisis, avert millions of deaths, and support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to health.’ That seems quite important to know. thelancet.com/journals/lance…