Recent Carbon Brief articles by Simon Evans

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

• Interview: COP31 president says electrification is ‘surest way to protect citizens’
• Analysis: UK’s EV drivers are now saving £1,100 each a year – and £3bn in total
• Q&A: How UK’s seventh carbon budget will deliver ‘£865bn’ in economic benefits
• Factcheck: What the UK car industry is not saying about EV targets
• Q&A: How the UK government aims to ‘break link between gas and electricity prices’
• Q&A: Why does gas set the price of electricity – and is there an alternative?
• Chris Stark: The economics of clean energy ‘just get better and better’
• Analysis: Trump has overseen larger coal decline than any other US president
• Factcheck: What it really costs to heat a home in the UK with a heat pump
• Expensive gas still biggest driver of high UK electricity bills, says UKERC
• Analysis: World’s biggest historic polluter – the US – is pulling out of UN climate treaty
• Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
• The Carbon Brief Interview: UK Climate Change Committee’s Emma Pinchbeck
• IEA reiterates ‘no new oil and gas needed’ if global warming is limited to 1.5C
• IEA: Renewables will be world’s top power source ‘by 2026’
• OBR: Net-zero is much cheaper than thought for UK – and unchecked global warming far more costly
• Factcheck: Why Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is wrong about UK’s net-zero goal
• 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?
• Interview: Why global support for climate action is ‘systematically underestimated’
• Factcheck: 21 misleading myths about electric vehicles
• Analysis: UK government’s climate U-turns put legally binding targets in jeopardy
• 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
• Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA
• 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
• ‘Profound shifts’ underway in energy system, says IEA World Energy Outlook
• Analysis: Renewables could match coal power within 5 years, IEA reveals
• Analysis: UK renewables generate more electricity than fossil fuels for first time
• Analysis: Record-low price for UK offshore wind cheaper than existing gas plants by 2023
• Direct CO2 capture machines could use ‘a quarter of global energy’ in 2100
• CCC: UK has just 18 months to avoid ’embarrassment’ over climate inaction
• In-depth Q&A: The UK becomes first major economy to set net-zero climate goal
• Analysis: Half of UK’s electricity to be renewable by 2025
• Analysis: UK’s CO2 emissions fell for record sixth consecutive year in 2018
• Analysis: BP’s outlook for fossil fuels could be undermined by slowing energy demand
• Analysis: How far would Germany’s 2038 coal phaseout breach Paris climate goals?
• Q&A: Can the UK meet its climate goals without the Wylfa nuclear plant?
• Analysis: UK electricity generation in 2018 falls to lowest level since 1994
• Q&A: What next for UK capacity market after surprise EU ruling?
• CCC: UK should ‘move away’ from large-scale biomass burning
• Global coal use may have peaked in 2014, says latest IEA World Energy Outlook
• The Carbon Brief Interview: Chris Stark
• Rapid rise of UK electric vehicles sees National Grid double its 2040 forecast
• CCC: New UK renewables ‘could be cheaper than existing gas plants by 2030’
• In-depth: BP’s global data for 2017 shows record highs for coal and renewables
• Analysis: Government asks when UK should hit net-zero emissions
• 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?
• Q&A: What does ‘subsidy-free’ renewables actually mean?
• 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
• UK will miss climate goals despite new strategy, says official watchdog
• 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
• Analysis: UK auction reveals offshore wind cheaper than new gas
• Factcheck: Misleading headlines about electric car charging while boiling the kettle
• In-depth: The challenges facing the Dieter Helm ‘energy cost’ review
• Factcheck: British Gas and Daily Telegraph make confusing claims over ‘green taxes’
• Six charts show UK’s progress on low-carbon energy slowing down
• Analysis: Switch to electric vehicles would add just 10% to UK power demand
• In-depth: How a smart flexible grid could save the UK £40bn
• Factcheck: How much power will UK electric vehicles need?
• Seven charts show why the IEA thinks coal investment has already peaked
• The Swiss company hoping to capture 1% of global CO2 emissions by 2025
• IEA: World can reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2060 to meet Paris climate goals
• Factcheck: Whale strandings and offshore windfarms
• Election 2017: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change
• Mapped: Climate change laws around the world