I cant say how happy I am that Simon is an actual ambassador for climate change, his practical and intelligent approaches to topics will surely be a force for good. Thanks Simon, glad I subbed all those years ago. (will donate when i can).
1? One what? Not one watt. One million tonnes of carbon dioxide a day would be about right. Britain is about global average per person for territorial emissions, but higher than average if you include imported goods. It's among the highest, just behind the US, if you look at cumulative emissions per capita. As Simon told Keir Starmer, we were where the fossil economy really started and can help lead the way beyond it
Politicians as Pop Stars is the New 'Feudalism of Four': Pope - King - Sherif - Scienter. Each requires 10% of your base income. So here's my question. The Homeless are Zero Carbon. That's worth 'Carbon Credits' to al-Goreia's Carbon Cap & Trade Scheme (legal name). Why can't Homeless sell their carbon credits? Here I am, hudded around the electric radiator. as winter rages. I stand in the snow to ride the bus. I eat cold rice and pulses. That ought to be worth US$100 a week in carbon credits!! *Why can't the Poor sell their carbon credits?*
@@batbite_ Bruh, trans right is absolutely nothing compared to the issue of climate change, come on, really? It's not like he's said the most transphobic shit ever, judging by the way you phrased your comment, so do you really care that much? Jesus christ
@blackflash9935 labour should be the ones who stood up for queer people against tory bigotry but he has abandoned supporting lgbtq rights and it's quite a personal issue to me tbh. I of course still think it's good to be slightly more progressive on climate change than he could be.
Not surprised by the reaction of the press to the 95% goal. It's a common theme that conservative pundits (and therefore sometimes the mainstream) adopt to discredit non-extremist progressive policies. As long as conservative governments are in power, the policy is too ambitious. Once there's a power shift, the policy is not ambitious enough and a betrayal of promises. It fuels disillusion in progressive voters, making them regret their choice at the polls.
On the one hand it's not unreasonable to think that clean means 0% FF. On the other hand I think the previous target was 0% by 2035 so shifting that to about 5 years away was very ambitious. I think 5% is a very reasonable target for that timeframe. If they had said 95% FF free by 2035 in the manifesto I don't think anyone reasonable would have had a problem with that. But I suppose it's possible they didn't have the ability to get the report that led to the 5% figure until they were in government.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 The compromise of "low carbon" energy and just to 95% make it a good stretch goal. It'll be difficult but not entirely absurd.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 To be fair, if the world reduced its emissions to just 5% of normal, we'd have a lot more time to figure out the remaining 5% (most likely with carbon capture).
@@General12th if the world reduced it's emissions to 5% we'd be almost finished! What we're talking about here is only electricity generation, which is about 1/3 of emissions. The other stuff is harder.
Y'know, as much as I'm not a particular fan of some of this government's political stances, I am certain that the previous government would not have had this kind of discussion, so props for that at least. Let's see if they can follow through.
The Tories did have similar "talks" with experts and influencers, particularly in the Cameron years and even some when Boris was in Number 10. It's a common tactic politicians of all sides use to seem authoritative and like they actually listen to expert advice. The Tories even made some of them MPs. Did they actually act on anything brought up on said discussions? Hell no. Hopefully Labour will be different, but we'll have to see.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 This may shock you but competence as a reason to support a party is meaningless in relation to what they actually want and the outlets praising said competence aren't neutral.
Honestly so true. People can disagree with the politics itself as much as they want but it's so refreshing having a competent government. Many of the controversies of this gov have either been 1) something the Tories were already planning to do bc it's probably really a good idea (think I remember hearing tories plan to cut winter fuel payments), or 2) something that isn't that big deal when you start thinking beyond the headlines (starmer handout controversy)
@@EvHocks I do think this cuts both ways though. They're competent, but they're competently managing a Capitalist system that is fundamentally (and possibly irreparably) flawed. That's itself a different problem.
Better than the last is all they've done. They are NOT competent. Competent would be massively investing in as much solar as the country can borrow the money for, immediately, kitting out all government buildings with solar and setting up a sovereign wealth fund. It would be buying our own wind farms instead of letting private companies own them. It would be building the interconnector that was supposed to land near Portsmouth and come up to Lovedean and was cancelled because moronic NIMBYs wanted the road closures not to happen while they dug a few trenches (not even that many) and wanted higher priced electricity and less capability to sell our abundant clean energy. They can't even work out that their figure of 4,000 elderly people dying if they don't get winter fuel payments, means cancelling any of those is probably a bad idea... all we can really hope is they don't do another Brexit (which they are also responsible for since they didn't bother campaigning hard against it), that they don't torture anyone this time as Labour did last time, that they don't start two wars that got us nowhere, and that if they do occupy any dictatorships, they actually have a plan to occupy them like we did Germany and put them back on the right track and not abandon them to terrorists. Franky our best hope is that they do very little at all and stop causing damage.
@@EvHocks”competent”, I think you need to become competent at looking at what’s going on. Cancelled elections? Repeatedly wasting our money on other countries?
Thank you for asking a unbriefed question! Had Keir answered this one actually I would have been massively impressed. But I have to say his non-answer was actually quite good and added to feeling reassured. He showed in his answer that he and his team take the concerns serious that some people might have, but more importantly he argued, why most people and companies will actually win from the transition. Very good video!
Both the new found support by the community and your recognition from the political world are well-deserved. You're doing such an amazing job. Thank you!
@@craigcampbell3921they all asked the prepared question, so I don’t think they are worth listening to. Waste of time going, just to ask starmer a question he wrote for himself.
8:10 its a lot of skirting around the issue, but also he isn't likely to be briefed or know the exact nature of what you are discussing without knowing ahead of time. We have a similar price structure in New Zealand, and consistently government have failed to address the issue as somehow "too hard" when the reality is that its actually very easy to fix.
Unfortunately it isn't "very easy to fix". Marginal pricing is the system which ensures all generators get paid the value of their generation to the system and hence provides the financial incentive for the most useful plants to build. Without it the government basically needs to pick the winners themselves and just pay plants to exist. And the main alternative "pay as bid" just results in all generators bidding at close to what they expect to be the clearing price, ending up with very similar if not worse results.
I think labor's plan is very ambitious considering they are a major party who are actually in power. It's easy to be an idealist when you are a small opposition group.
Massive respect to you Simon, to echo what others have said, who were the other influencers and what were they there for? Also I don't think that the previous government would have done something like this, I don't agree with everything Labour are doing, but kudos for doing this with you and the other influencers.
i think the crazy thing about the PM is how it's probably fairly easy for me to bump into him, what with him being my MP and all and him being a patron of my workplace...
So proud of you Simon. Not only did you get to meet these people, you weren't afraid to follow up your question when it didn't get a direct answer. I hope to see much more of this, both you being heard and spoken to, and this serious and human style of government.
Congratulations on meeting Sir Keir Starmer and kudos on following up with Ed Miliband. It’s cool and all that but I can’t help thinking that you’re now on their radar (or that of their staffs) and maybe you’ll have a chance, however slight, of influencing _them_ or at least influencing those who influence them. And, since you mentioned how, at the start of the year, you came close to quitting YT 5:20 (something which I’ve kept in mind with every video of yours I’ve watched since), it might be good to do an update about that so we don’t have to think that it’s still touch-and-go and that any new video we watch might be your last.
Yall in the UK are so lucky to have a PM who wants action on human caused global warming. Our incoming president here in the US thinks our planet is not warming because one tiny part of the globe saw anomalous cold temperatures for a brief period of time.
I wouldn't be so sure Keir Starmer actually wants half of the changes he proposes, and he doesn't propose very many concretely. I'm very happy and would love to be proved wrong on this, especially since I did vote for his party, but I'm not holding my breath for Keir as a Brit. Although anything has to be better than what you guys have had and are getting soon...
@ still light years better than our orange bafoon. He literally wants to gut the agency that studies climate change (NOAA) and the agency that enforces environmental protection (EPA) to lower government spending. NOAA also provides our country with all our weather forecasts and climate data. The entire field of climatology and meteorology would collapse without NOAA and its child agency the National Weather Service. Which sucks for me as that is the field I was wanting to go into (I’m a 19 year old college freshman in New Jersey). The fact that my president wants to tear apart all the research and data critical to my major has given me a bit of an existential crisis lol Earth Science is literally my passion. Even if your PM isn’t perfect, it’s at least progress. We had the same with Joe Biden, not perfect on climate change, but he was so much better than Trump. I’m still dumbfounded half of the American people were bamboozeled yet again. Still makes me sick. Can’t believe people put the price of groceries (which were, relative to wages, getting cheaper the past few months) over the health of our democracy and planet. 😔
@@sirdiesalot2975 tbf I think many politicians talk about things they don't actually care about, but the fact that they do talk about them (and hopefully do something) is more important than whatever they in reality think, in my opinion
11:50 "95% coverage" is quite a normal target when you're trying to say something has been eliminated. The Smoke-free Ambition, for example, is to get the smoking prevalence to less than 5% of by 2030 (a target which has been cross-party Government policy for a long time, and we're almost certainly not going to meet)
I totally get that Starmer is a politician and all, but I am kinda sad that he didn't really answer the question you asked. Cause you could have everything run on low-cost, clean energy.... that energy is still held by only a tiny handful of private corporations. Corporations that are massively profit driven, and very likely see no reason to lower those prices. And this isn't just a problem in the UK, but across the globe. Ofc a government won't always do things well, but saying "we want lower prices" whilst that power is still in the hands of profit driven corpos is not gonna work
Fortunately, with plans to nationalise the energy sector, this issue of price hiking for profit will be less of an issue. Additionally, as the question Clark asked was quite technical, it is understandable for the PM to not answer the question directly as he was likely not briefed on the specifics.
Starmer didn't answer the question, because he didn't know. He obviously will have only prepared answers to the "suggested questions", and as came out in Miliband's answer the final decisions in that space have not yet been made.
Starmer is a lawyer he has zero understanding of STEM or the nature of reality. There is now way on earth any PM understands the basics of the energy sector or electricity pricing. Partly because it's a crazy system that makes zero sense. They probably all think natural gas is a good idea - they're letting British Gas go ahead with their insane hydrogen plan after all.
Huh... I happened to accidentally bump into John Major at a service station a couple weeks ago. Not quite the same experience but still felt like "What were you doing here?"
8:27 I'm impressed how thoroughly they decided brief him. It'll be nice if he actively followed you, but I don't think thats the case. That he mentioned you infant is impressive. But... It is also a manipulation technique to get you on his side. Doesn't mean that he has bad intention necessarily, but it is what it is.
Yeah, I'm a little less impressed than Simon is by Starmer's reaction. It's the standard "I wasn't briefed about this question so let me cram as many keywords from our policy bulletin as I can instead of answering" move. Mentioning Simon's kid is another form of keyword stuffing. Show that you studied the exam to impress your interviewer, instead of admitting you don't know the answer to this specific question. It's a very politician move; eg Macron does it all the time.
@@aceman0000099 I mean... no? I don't think we should look down on people who admit when they don't know something. I'd respect that answer a lot more than the filibuster he gave.
Man, I know sincerity in YoutTube comment sections is maybe some sort of internet faux pas, but I can't say how much I genuinely appreciate your work. Climate change action has driven pretty much my entire career - albeit mostly as it relates to cities/transportation - but it's hard at times to reconcile that specificity and scale of work with everything else that's happening, the actual environmental science behind it all, and to actually communicate it effectively to people at-large. To add to that - as a somewhat-guilty emigrant from the UK that feels a real sense of responsibility to that place and helping on this issue there specifically - it's inspiring to see people like you that are such credible and active representatives for the country and environmental issues there. IDK a bit of a ramble but the moment I have some spare cash you can have some. Thanks for doing what you do.
Met Keir a couple months ago after the Locals when I got pretty much told I was going to an event in Mansfield, admittedly I was a bit hungover from celebrating, lovely guy not a bad word I could really say about him, had a bit of a chat shook his hand. I think we have a very good opportunity to sort out our energy system for good but I do not really know how much the electorate want it, after all they always want the benefits not the downsides. I have been shouted at enough times on doors to know that.
Really happy this happened! Congratulations Simon! It does give me more faith in the labour government (possibly) being proactive about this stuff. They really didn’t have to do this.
I am a bit concerned that labour focuses solely on decarbonising the electricity sector which just accounts for about 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions and totally overlooks the transport and heating/ housing sector. Combined they account for about half of our emissions and are much harder to decarbonise.
I guess they become easier to decarbonise once you've sorted out your energy grid since it's pointless electrifying industries if your electricity is being produced by sources that release a lot of CO2
The glib answer is "you have to start somewhere". Energy security *has* to be a priority, as little can happen without that. Recent developments in decarbonising steel production are welcome, although *much* remains to be done. The construction industry's reliance on concrete is (obviously) a vitally important area, here Sweden is leading the way. Does this government need to do more and more to communicate what it's doing? Hell, *YES* .... but after many of the last lot, these are positively progressive! Whatever you do though, don't rely on legacy media .... for the most part, their coverage of decarbonisation is past pathetic!
I also voted for something more ambitious also. We actually managed the trick in North Herefordshire. I watch all your videos. Most of what is on RUclips is not with a candle, but I am so glad that you have managed to get through your crisis. Best wishes from George
I randomly met my country's Prime Minister when I was flying home from my trip to Rome. He had a small weekend break and was on the same flight. We took a picture on the bus that took us from the plane to the airport.
The UK has the most expensive energy in the world. We aren't merely decarbonising, we're deindustrialising and the dire economic decline consequent to that is already apparent. I note Starmer doesn't even mention nuclear when talking of energy transitions - funny that.
@@Mafik326 - many people say that our best ever PM was Clement Atlee. He ran the country while in coalition with our second best ever PM, Churchill. Churchill had charisma; Atlee didn't. , Atlee beat Churchill in the post-war 1945 election, and changed the UK forever, even though we were bankrupt. Churchill described Atlee as a modest little man, with much to be modest about. Long live boring politicians, I say.
@@petersmith2137 I believe Thatcher once described Atlee as having been "all substance and no style" which I think is probably what we should want in a politician
Who'd have thought that Keir Starmer's answer was a blazé platitude. If we want to stave off Nigel Farage and Elon Musk's murky influence over UK politics - Keir Starmer needs to be more fucking radical on these points.
Hopefully Starmer did understand your question and that it was referring to how the market prices are what they are, because it would be worrying if he didn't considering it's one of the biggest issues with the country currently. It definitely wasn't too technical of a question like you suggest it might have been. I know we're watching someone who does mainly climate videos but I don't think any of us viewers wouldn't understand what you meant by the question so hopefully the person who has the power to fix it understood it too. Could you not have replied "thanks for the detailed reply but I think you misunderstood the question"? Just felt like watching a standard TV interview where the politician dodges the question and we're shouting at the interviewer to ask them again and push for an actual answer but they never do. It's good that you luckily got to ask miliband even if the answer was just "wait a few months and we'll announce plans". Have you said in a previous video what those plans could be or just solutions in general? I'd like to hear more about what the potential solutions are and im sure you have some.
It's quite clear that Starmer didn't understand the intricacies of the energy markets and electricity prices. And really as PM he shouldn't be expected to know those details.
its easy to think that but i think we expect to much from our leaders. they are only human and cant know everything. i think its ok to not know when you have appointed someone like ed Miliband who really knows whats going on.
great video again! what am amazing turn of events form this year. Really proud that you asked your own question to the prime minister. thanks for this work Simon, your making an impact for sure
amazing Simon 👏🏼 I have no real science knowledge just A Level biology & currently an accountant 👍🏼 but love your videos & glad you made a comeback! Especially as it seems you’ve got your mojo back / revenue up and amazing got to meet the PM! Exciting
You don't think that's more than Starmer has? You do understand you're good at maths on some level and he's just a humanities student, right? You definitely understand STEM more than he does, that man's a total muppet.
Thank you Simon for your hard work and commitment. I wish all the best of luck to the UK in reaching the targets, may the country become a template for what other nations must do. Happy 2025 everyone.
I'm so glad that Oxford graduates are able to achieve such incredible things! Who would've ever thought it possible someone from such a background could end up there!! Well done you!!!
The big barriers to Wind in this country is manpower. The offshore industry has a huge staff shortage, and it'll only get worse. I work for a company driving automation and robotics into this space to significantly reduce costs in the coming years!!! Honestly, the next few years is going to be bonkers, we're going to make wind power significantly cheaper!!!
Glad you had a good talk with the PM on the climate. Being ambushed by such a person would knock the wind and planning out of most people. And good that they might want to be ambitious about improving the climate crises, I which they would feel the same on the health crises of a certin minority as well.
Yes I didn't recognise any but they might also have relevant channels we'd be interested in. In fact, if they don't, that would be quite telling about the government's general incompetence which is already on display with their total lack of progress this year.
RE: More ambition on heating systems. I'm involved with a UK government funded electric heating project and, in short, the ambition is there too but there are 3 critical issues: - Governments approach is not ideal - We have an enormous skill problem - Yes, the electricity price is too high! On the approaches, currently the grant and regulation structure entirely prevents a range of alternate green heating systems such as (reversible heat pump) AC and this is actually by design to avoid excessive load on the grid during summer. Of course, blocking options means lower uptake. Secondly it also prevents a large, typically productive group of people in this country: DIYers. Despite being really just a large plumbing project, you can't fit any part of a wet heat pump system yourself without losing access to the grant schemes. Being able to prepare ones own house to receive one, provide proof, and then receive the units for free and have an electrician do the final hookup would likely help massively reduce cost and increase uptake, however, the electricity price is simply fatal at the moment.
It's hard to not love your content the way you blend real science communication and what at least I would consider excellent journalism is wonderful to watch, legit climate science and politics around it are one of the few areas I'm able to keep upto date on and that's mostly thanks to your videos, love what you do Simon
Wow, what an end to such a turbulent year! I'm so happy for you man. When you made your video about quitting I was devastated. Your videos are of such high quality and the topics are so pressing, that they are a necessity on this platform. But I had no opportunity to support you on Patreon, and didn't support there to be enough any time soon. But damn I was wrong, and I can only imagine how you must have felt when you saw it go up. This year must have been insane with everything that happened, and you got to go out with a bang. I hope you actually get to enjoy the feeling of looking back and seeing the progress, because I can imagine it might be overwhelming as well. But you deserve it all, Simon! Please continue to make these amazing videos. I'll be here to watch and someday you can expect me on Patreon :)
I thought it was disappointing Keir Starmer didn’t refer to energy pricing structure, because he talked about wanting to make U.K. pricing not dependent on global pricing which means you have to change the model where electricity prices are set by the “energy of last resort” which is gas power stations
As someone who knows you most through random Yog streams, but keeps tabs on your content, this was so incredible to see! You’re doing good work Dr Simon!
With a large amount of electricity production that can not be regulated, there will be large differences in the price paid. No intermediate source should be directly connected to the grid like it mostly is at the moment. Instead there should be a short term buffer in between (1-2 hours) the source and grid. This will even out prices and reduce the average price. There is also a need for storage unit that can days of usage. This can also help reducing the average price, and increase the grid stability.
I don't think you've met a lot of politicians before, so just a quick word of caution: They're all (for the most part) "nice" people. They know how to converse, they know how to be likable. That's basically how they came into the position they're in. But don't be fooled by their eloquence or their manners - judge them by their actions, not by their words. And I'm afraid for most politicians, they're much worse people than they seem. I've been active in politics before and have met lots of ministers and members of parliament (not in the UK though), but at some point I just couldn't take it anymore: The most successful politicians are all excellent at back-stabbing and experts in diversion and deception. Don't be fooled, just because you had "a nice chat" with some "nice people".
Simon, thank you. Awesome stuff. Your video quality is top grade and your content is eminently watchable and topical. Thanks also for the Nebula idea. My wife has been asking what I want for Christmas and typically for a first world person I was stumped. I had been thinking Audible, but now I know a Nebula subscription is the best idea.
I know very little about politics but I'm inclined to trust our government much more for inviting you, specifically, to this. What a fantastic nod to your work Simon, major kudos!
Dr Simon Clark, have they laid out any road map for solar and battery storage? There's a concern in rural areas they are selling farmland for specific use as solar and battery farms, yet they are not even wired up to the grid. Additionally, I have seen no drive to push solar on urban areas like car parks that would be much more aesthetic than on a rural land. Finally, why is there no push to massively subsidise solar on homes? Surely that would push 95% consumer grid use and achieve the cost reduction on electricity for consumers?
Really interesting video! Even if you didn't quite get the conclusive answer you were maybe hoping for, it's always good to see genuine questions being asked, and politicians answering what they can to said questions. Often there's far too much sensationalism in questions asked and answers given. Keep up the good work!
oh man kudos to you, I would NOT have handled this as well as you did. I'm not a big fan of the prime minister, and I'd probably let him know. But it brings me hope to know good folks such as yourself are somewhat involved in the decision-making
Just want to say thank you for your work - both your advocacy work and what you've taught me about climate science. Pleased to see 2024 has been a good one for you. - from A Fellow Exeter Alum 😊
The PM actually lives in 11 Downing Street, but do all their press announcements and photo ops in front of the 10 Downing Street door. But the proper door to the residential area of the building is 11 Downing Street .
When my manager asks "Hey, can we talk in a minute?", I go into a mild panic. If I was told the government wanted to talk to me, I would just have heart failure right then. But to be asked back? Hell yeah, you're doing the good work!
I cant say how happy I am that Simon is an actual ambassador for climate change, his practical and intelligent approaches to topics will surely be a force for good. Thanks Simon, glad I subbed all those years ago. (will donate when i can).
I started liking him I had thought that he was a populist prime minister.Scrap or amend leasehold ,because it needs reform...
And how much CO2 does the UK produce? I'll give you a hint, it's the first number from 1-10.
1? One what? Not one watt. One million tonnes of carbon dioxide a day would be about right.
Britain is about global average per person for territorial emissions, but higher than average if you include imported goods. It's among the highest, just behind the US, if you look at cumulative emissions per capita.
As Simon told Keir Starmer, we were where the fossil economy really started and can help lead the way beyond it
I would've most likely had a moderate panic attack when the PM suddenly walked into the room
Well, is Starmer, so... like being surprised by a white wall.
Politicians as Pop Stars is the New 'Feudalism of Four': Pope - King - Sherif - Scienter. Each requires 10% of your base income. So here's my question. The Homeless are Zero Carbon. That's worth 'Carbon Credits' to al-Goreia's Carbon Cap & Trade Scheme (legal name). Why can't Homeless sell their carbon credits? Here I am, hudded around the electric radiator. as winter rages. I stand in the snow to ride the bus. I eat cold rice and pulses. That ought to be worth US$100 a week in carbon credits!! *Why can't the Poor sell their carbon credits?*
Like, I personally would feel uncomfortable meeting someone like him who should have helped protect trans rights but is doing the opposite
@@batbite_ Bruh, trans right is absolutely nothing compared to the issue of climate change, come on, really? It's not like he's said the most transphobic shit ever, judging by the way you phrased your comment, so do you really care that much? Jesus christ
@blackflash9935 labour should be the ones who stood up for queer people against tory bigotry but he has abandoned supporting lgbtq rights and it's quite a personal issue to me tbh. I of course still think it's good to be slightly more progressive on climate change than he could be.
hahaha ''I did a Journalism''
10:54 lmao
"I am something of a press, myself".
'I journalised'
I am a press
Jeremy Clarkson, I did a thing Vibe :D
“I’m stuck in a PHD and I blame Simon” at 5:47 lol
Could have been stuck in that PhD for 8 years now.
I watched Simon's videos back in my first year of undergrad and now I'm in the final two months of my PhD haha
It happens
Not surprised by the reaction of the press to the 95% goal. It's a common theme that conservative pundits (and therefore sometimes the mainstream) adopt to discredit non-extremist progressive policies. As long as conservative governments are in power, the policy is too ambitious. Once there's a power shift, the policy is not ambitious enough and a betrayal of promises. It fuels disillusion in progressive voters, making them regret their choice at the polls.
On the one hand it's not unreasonable to think that clean means 0% FF. On the other hand I think the previous target was 0% by 2035 so shifting that to about 5 years away was very ambitious. I think 5% is a very reasonable target for that timeframe. If they had said 95% FF free by 2035 in the manifesto I don't think anyone reasonable would have had a problem with that. But I suppose it's possible they didn't have the ability to get the report that led to the 5% figure until they were in government.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 The compromise of "low carbon" energy and just to 95% make it a good stretch goal. It'll be difficult but not entirely absurd.
@@handsomecaveman it's the last 5% that's always the hardest anyway
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 To be fair, if the world reduced its emissions to just 5% of normal, we'd have a lot more time to figure out the remaining 5% (most likely with carbon capture).
@@General12th if the world reduced it's emissions to 5% we'd be almost finished! What we're talking about here is only electricity generation, which is about 1/3 of emissions. The other stuff is harder.
Larry the Cat says, "Call my secretary and make an appointment. Casual dress code will be okay."
what is casual dress code for a cat
is it not the same as formal dress code
Y'know, as much as I'm not a particular fan of some of this government's political stances, I am certain that the previous government would not have had this kind of discussion, so props for that at least. Let's see if they can follow through.
Agreed
The Tories did have similar "talks" with experts and influencers, particularly in the Cameron years and even some when Boris was in Number 10. It's a common tactic politicians of all sides use to seem authoritative and like they actually listen to expert advice. The Tories even made some of them MPs.
Did they actually act on anything brought up on said discussions? Hell no. Hopefully Labour will be different, but we'll have to see.
Now we can have a little microphone before they pull their neoliberal shit
As a non-Brit, most of what I've heard about Starmer's government has revolved around the word "competent". And competence has my approval.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 This may shock you but competence as a reason to support a party is meaningless in relation to what they actually want and the outlets praising said competence aren't neutral.
I would rather have met Ed Miliband but I guess you can't complain with meeting Starmer.
Edit: hey you did meet Ed.
he did briefly meet miliband too
@@anyaakovalchuk Yes, I just got to that part of the video.
I really dislike starmer for his abandonment of trans rights
@@batbite_not abandoning trans rights would have required him to be consistent on an issue which he’s physically incapable of
@@batbite_ To be fair, Starmer never had any convictions. Labour didn't have a manifesto.
"Better than the last government" is a low bar to stumble over, but they do seem to be managing it.
Honestly so true. People can disagree with the politics itself as much as they want but it's so refreshing having a competent government. Many of the controversies of this gov have either been 1) something the Tories were already planning to do bc it's probably really a good idea (think I remember hearing tories plan to cut winter fuel payments), or 2) something that isn't that big deal when you start thinking beyond the headlines (starmer handout controversy)
@@EvHocks I do think this cuts both ways though. They're competent, but they're competently managing a Capitalist system that is fundamentally (and possibly irreparably) flawed. That's itself a different problem.
@ yeah agreed trying to maintain socialist policies in a capitalist system just doesn’t work. Need real change!
Better than the last is all they've done. They are NOT competent. Competent would be massively investing in as much solar as the country can borrow the money for, immediately, kitting out all government buildings with solar and setting up a sovereign wealth fund. It would be buying our own wind farms instead of letting private companies own them. It would be building the interconnector that was supposed to land near Portsmouth and come up to Lovedean and was cancelled because moronic NIMBYs wanted the road closures not to happen while they dug a few trenches (not even that many) and wanted higher priced electricity and less capability to sell our abundant clean energy. They can't even work out that their figure of 4,000 elderly people dying if they don't get winter fuel payments, means cancelling any of those is probably a bad idea... all we can really hope is they don't do another Brexit (which they are also responsible for since they didn't bother campaigning hard against it), that they don't torture anyone this time as Labour did last time, that they don't start two wars that got us nowhere, and that if they do occupy any dictatorships, they actually have a plan to occupy them like we did Germany and put them back on the right track and not abandon them to terrorists.
Franky our best hope is that they do very little at all and stop causing damage.
@@EvHocks”competent”, I think you need to become competent at looking at what’s going on. Cancelled elections? Repeatedly wasting our money on other countries?
Thank you for asking a unbriefed question! Had Keir answered this one actually I would have been massively impressed. But I have to say his non-answer was actually quite good and added to feeling reassured. He showed in his answer that he and his team take the concerns serious that some people might have, but more importantly he argued, why most people and companies will actually win from the transition. Very good video!
Both the new found support by the community and your recognition from the political world are well-deserved. You're doing such an amazing job. Thank you!
Good on you for not sticking to the provided question. Who were the other influencers?
I also want to know
I'm curious about this as well! If they were also invited to this session, they are probably worth listening to
@@craigcampbell3921they all asked the prepared question, so I don’t think they are worth listening to. Waste of time going, just to ask starmer a question he wrote for himself.
8:10 its a lot of skirting around the issue, but also he isn't likely to be briefed or know the exact nature of what you are discussing without knowing ahead of time. We have a similar price structure in New Zealand, and consistently government have failed to address the issue as somehow "too hard" when the reality is that its actually very easy to fix.
It's because Starmer doesn't actually understand it. But that's hardly uncommon.
Unfortunately it isn't "very easy to fix". Marginal pricing is the system which ensures all generators get paid the value of their generation to the system and hence provides the financial incentive for the most useful plants to build.
Without it the government basically needs to pick the winners themselves and just pay plants to exist.
And the main alternative "pay as bid" just results in all generators bidding at close to what they expect to be the clearing price, ending up with very similar if not worse results.
I think labor's plan is very ambitious considering they are a major party who are actually in power. It's easy to be an idealist when you are a small opposition group.
It wouldve been hilarious if the question was, "Who's your favourte primarch?".
😂😂
Thank you for talking about this! Talking to the right people, doing a journalism lol. Thank you for existing!! You give me so much hope!
Thank you for trying to get an answer to this. It means a lot to a lot of people.
I turned down chance to meet Tony Blair when he was PM cos I admitted what I would say to him 😂😂
Massive respect to you Simon, to echo what others have said, who were the other influencers and what were they there for? Also I don't think that the previous government would have done something like this, I don't agree with everything Labour are doing, but kudos for doing this with you and the other influencers.
i think the crazy thing about the PM is how it's probably fairly easy for me to bump into him, what with him being my MP and all and him being a patron of my workplace...
Bro thats sick gg
Wow he met the PM who was voted for by only 20% of the population
Jimmy the goat in the wild lets go
Oi jimmy, stop strawmanning the anti immigration argument!
Good to hear that your videos allowed you to interact with government - and that you were largely reassured by ministers' competence and commitment.
That's awesome. I'm glad to have adults back in charge as well.
So proud of you Simon. Not only did you get to meet these people, you weren't afraid to follow up your question when it didn't get a direct answer. I hope to see much more of this, both you being heard and spoken to, and this serious and human style of government.
Congratulations on meeting Sir Keir Starmer and kudos on following up with Ed Miliband. It’s cool and all that but I can’t help thinking that you’re now on their radar (or that of their staffs) and maybe you’ll have a chance, however slight, of influencing _them_ or at least influencing those who influence them.
And, since you mentioned how, at the start of the year, you came close to quitting YT 5:20 (something which I’ve kept in mind with every video of yours I’ve watched since), it might be good to do an update about that so we don’t have to think that it’s still touch-and-go and that any new video we watch might be your last.
50 min later and the comments are surprisingly civilized!
You've done a lot to help the Yogscast's links to the government, excited to see Kier Starmer on Jingle Jam next year :p
They should definitely get Keir on to watch a Jingle Cats video with Simon and Lewis
Yall in the UK are so lucky to have a PM who wants action on human caused global warming. Our incoming president here in the US thinks our planet is not warming because one tiny part of the globe saw anomalous cold temperatures for a brief period of time.
I wouldn't be so sure Keir Starmer actually wants half of the changes he proposes, and he doesn't propose very many concretely.
I'm very happy and would love to be proved wrong on this, especially since I did vote for his party, but I'm not holding my breath for Keir as a Brit. Although anything has to be better than what you guys have had and are getting soon...
It's not just him. Adult-child politicians are appearing everywhere. And what's revolting is that people even idolize these lunatics
@ still light years better than our orange bafoon. He literally wants to gut the agency that studies climate change (NOAA) and the agency that enforces environmental protection (EPA) to lower government spending. NOAA also provides our country with all our weather forecasts and climate data. The entire field of climatology and meteorology would collapse without NOAA and its child agency the National Weather Service. Which sucks for me as that is the field I was wanting to go into (I’m a 19 year old college freshman in New Jersey). The fact that my president wants to tear apart all the research and data critical to my major has given me a bit of an existential crisis lol Earth Science is literally my passion.
Even if your PM isn’t perfect, it’s at least progress. We had the same with Joe Biden, not perfect on climate change, but he was so much better than Trump. I’m still dumbfounded half of the American people were bamboozeled yet again. Still makes me sick. Can’t believe people put the price of groceries (which were, relative to wages, getting cheaper the past few months) over the health of our democracy and planet. 😔
@@sirdiesalot2975 tbf I think many politicians talk about things they don't actually care about, but the fact that they do talk about them (and hopefully do something) is more important than whatever they in reality think, in my opinion
our PM isn't known for his honesty or following through on his promises. but yeah it's great he wants that.
11:50 "95% coverage" is quite a normal target when you're trying to say something has been eliminated. The Smoke-free Ambition, for example, is to get the smoking prevalence to less than 5% of by 2030 (a target which has been cross-party Government policy for a long time, and we're almost certainly not going to meet)
Congratulations Simon! That was such a cool surprise opportunity and you did a good job handling it.
I totally get that Starmer is a politician and all, but I am kinda sad that he didn't really answer the question you asked. Cause you could have everything run on low-cost, clean energy.... that energy is still held by only a tiny handful of private corporations. Corporations that are massively profit driven, and very likely see no reason to lower those prices. And this isn't just a problem in the UK, but across the globe. Ofc a government won't always do things well, but saying "we want lower prices" whilst that power is still in the hands of profit driven corpos is not gonna work
Fortunately, with plans to nationalise the energy sector, this issue of price hiking for profit will be less of an issue. Additionally, as the question Clark asked was quite technical, it is understandable for the PM to not answer the question directly as he was likely not briefed on the specifics.
@@randomwaffler It's not nationalisig the energy sector, it's creating a new government energy company. Very different.
Starmer didn't answer the question, because he didn't know. He obviously will have only prepared answers to the "suggested questions", and as came out in Miliband's answer the final decisions in that space have not yet been made.
Starmer is a lawyer he has zero understanding of STEM or the nature of reality. There is now way on earth any PM understands the basics of the energy sector or electricity pricing. Partly because it's a crazy system that makes zero sense. They probably all think natural gas is a good idea - they're letting British Gas go ahead with their insane hydrogen plan after all.
Man it's almost like his interests are aligned with something else, crazy.
Huh... I happened to accidentally bump into John Major at a service station a couple weeks ago. Not quite the same experience but still felt like "What were you doing here?"
8:27 I'm impressed how thoroughly they decided brief him. It'll be nice if he actively followed you, but I don't think thats the case. That he mentioned you infant is impressive. But... It is also a manipulation technique to get you on his side. Doesn't mean that he has bad intention necessarily, but it is what it is.
Simon probably brought it up in conversation beforehand and he remembered.
Or - and here me out - Simon's child is the Prime Minister
Yeah, I'm a little less impressed than Simon is by Starmer's reaction. It's the standard "I wasn't briefed about this question so let me cram as many keywords from our policy bulletin as I can instead of answering" move. Mentioning Simon's kid is another form of keyword stuffing. Show that you studied the exam to impress your interviewer, instead of admitting you don't know the answer to this specific question. It's a very politician move; eg Macron does it all the time.
@@Olivman7you'd be less impressed if he was honest and said "look I don't know what you mean exactly so I can't give you an answer"
@@aceman0000099 I mean... no? I don't think we should look down on people who admit when they don't know something. I'd respect that answer a lot more than the filibuster he gave.
Man, I know sincerity in YoutTube comment sections is maybe some sort of internet faux pas, but I can't say how much I genuinely appreciate your work. Climate change action has driven pretty much my entire career - albeit mostly as it relates to cities/transportation - but it's hard at times to reconcile that specificity and scale of work with everything else that's happening, the actual environmental science behind it all, and to actually communicate it effectively to people at-large. To add to that - as a somewhat-guilty emigrant from the UK that feels a real sense of responsibility to that place and helping on this issue there specifically - it's inspiring to see people like you that are such credible and active representatives for the country and environmental issues there.
IDK a bit of a ramble but the moment I have some spare cash you can have some. Thanks for doing what you do.
Met Keir a couple months ago after the Locals when I got pretty much told I was going to an event in Mansfield, admittedly I was a bit hungover from celebrating, lovely guy not a bad word I could really say about him, had a bit of a chat shook his hand. I think we have a very good opportunity to sort out our energy system for good but I do not really know how much the electorate want it, after all they always want the benefits not the downsides. I have been shouted at enough times on doors to know that.
Really happy this happened! Congratulations Simon!
It does give me more faith in the labour government (possibly) being proactive about this stuff. They really didn’t have to do this.
I am a bit concerned that labour focuses solely on decarbonising the electricity sector which just accounts for about 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions and totally overlooks the transport and heating/ housing sector. Combined they account for about half of our emissions and are much harder to decarbonise.
I guess they become easier to decarbonise once you've sorted out your energy grid since it's pointless electrifying industries if your electricity is being produced by sources that release a lot of CO2
It's among the easiest things to decarbonize.
The glib answer is "you have to start somewhere". Energy security *has* to be a priority, as little can happen without that. Recent developments in decarbonising steel production are welcome, although *much* remains to be done. The construction industry's reliance on concrete is (obviously) a vitally important area, here Sweden is leading the way.
Does this government need to do more and more to communicate what it's doing? Hell, *YES* .... but after many of the last lot, these are positively progressive! Whatever you do though, don't rely on legacy media .... for the most part, their coverage of decarbonisation is past pathetic!
Once the grid is decarbonised then people can use electric heat pumps, electric cars etc
Errr... if you switch to 100% electric you would by definition not be using fossil fuels for heating or transport....
I also voted for something more ambitious also.
We actually managed the trick in North Herefordshire.
I watch all your videos. Most of what is on RUclips is not with a candle, but I am so glad that you have managed to get through your crisis.
Best wishes from George
This is amazing, thank you for being so active and passionate in such an important topic. Wish all the best for your future and this channel!
I'm proud of how far you have come this year! Look at you, doing a journalism! Keep up the good work, will always be here for your videos.
I randomly met my country's Prime Minister when I was flying home from my trip to Rome. He had a small weekend break and was on the same flight. We took a picture on the bus that took us from the plane to the airport.
They won't remove marginalistic price setting. My hunch is that the UK will copy paste what the EU and ACER did.
Credit where it's due; Starmer is getting at least some of his information from experts, and not just from corporate lobbyists.
Well done Simon
Thanks soooo much for asking so concretely about a very important and specific question! (And ignoring what was suggested to ask.) 😊👍 So cool of you!
The UK has the most expensive energy in the world. We aren't merely decarbonising, we're deindustrialising and the dire economic decline consequent to that is already apparent. I note Starmer doesn't even mention nuclear when talking of energy transitions - funny that.
Glad you are getting recognition for all the work you've been putting into this! Couldn't have happened to a better person!
Congrats Simon, been following you for a while and feel like a proud mum seeing you get some recognition!!
I like that your PM has less charisma than the pot in the foreground. I miss boring politics.
@@Mafik326 - many people say that our best ever PM was Clement Atlee. He ran the country while in coalition with our second best ever PM, Churchill. Churchill had charisma; Atlee didn't. , Atlee beat Churchill in the post-war 1945 election, and changed the UK forever, even though we were bankrupt.
Churchill described Atlee as a modest little man, with much to be modest about.
Long live boring politicians, I say.
@@petersmith2137agree. Good politics doesn't need personality, it needs brains and good decision making.
@@petersmith2137 I believe Thatcher once described Atlee as having been "all substance and no style" which I think is probably what we should want in a politician
@@petersmith2137Churchill is not the second best lol.
@@jasenanderson8534and integrity
I found this video very interesting and I really enjoyed it. Thank you very much for creating and sharing Simon.
Well done Simon - the success you’re having and the impact you’re making is really inspirational.
Who'd have thought that Keir Starmer's answer was a blazé platitude. If we want to stave off Nigel Farage and Elon Musk's murky influence over UK politics - Keir Starmer needs to be more fucking radical on these points.
Hopefully Starmer did understand your question and that it was referring to how the market prices are what they are, because it would be worrying if he didn't considering it's one of the biggest issues with the country currently. It definitely wasn't too technical of a question like you suggest it might have been. I know we're watching someone who does mainly climate videos but I don't think any of us viewers wouldn't understand what you meant by the question so hopefully the person who has the power to fix it understood it too. Could you not have replied "thanks for the detailed reply but I think you misunderstood the question"? Just felt like watching a standard TV interview where the politician dodges the question and we're shouting at the interviewer to ask them again and push for an actual answer but they never do. It's good that you luckily got to ask miliband even if the answer was just "wait a few months and we'll announce plans". Have you said in a previous video what those plans could be or just solutions in general? I'd like to hear more about what the potential solutions are and im sure you have some.
The Prime Minister should be extremely grateful for meeting Simon.
It's quite clear that Starmer didn't understand the intricacies of the energy markets and electricity prices. And really as PM he shouldn't be expected to know those details.
its easy to think that but i think we expect to much from our leaders. they are only human and cant know everything. i think its ok to not know when you have appointed someone like ed Miliband who really knows whats going on.
It's always fun for me to compare "Serious Climate Journalist Doctor Simon Clark" to "hanging out with Hat Films and all of their madness Simon Clark"
great video again! what am amazing turn of events form this year. Really proud that you asked your own question to the prime minister. thanks for this work Simon, your making an impact for sure
Amazing! Really impressed with that journalistic prowess!!!!
amazing Simon 👏🏼 I have no real science knowledge just A Level biology & currently an accountant 👍🏼 but love your videos & glad you made a comeback! Especially as it seems you’ve got your mojo back / revenue up and amazing got to meet the PM! Exciting
You don't think that's more than Starmer has? You do understand you're good at maths on some level and he's just a humanities student, right? You definitely understand STEM more than he does, that man's a total muppet.
Thank you Simon for your hard work and commitment. I wish all the best of luck to the UK in reaching the targets, may the country become a template for what other nations must do. Happy 2025 everyone.
I'm so glad that Oxford graduates are able to achieve such incredible things!
Who would've ever thought it possible someone from such a background could end up there!! Well done you!!!
The big barriers to Wind in this country is manpower. The offshore industry has a huge staff shortage, and it'll only get worse. I work for a company driving automation and robotics into this space to significantly reduce costs in the coming years!!! Honestly, the next few years is going to be bonkers, we're going to make wind power significantly cheaper!!!
Excellent question glad you asked it.
You're up with the best commentators on climate. Great, clear and honest. It's fantastic that the last year has turned around for you.
Glad you had a good talk with the PM on the climate.
Being ambushed by such a person would knock the wind and planning out of most people.
And good that they might want to be ambitious about improving the climate crises, I which they would feel the same on the health crises of a certin minority as well.
Who were the other RUclipsrs there and what topics were they connected to?
Yes I didn't recognise any but they might also have relevant channels we'd be interested in. In fact, if they don't, that would be quite telling about the government's general incompetence which is already on display with their total lack of progress this year.
The comments are surprisingly civilised! I wonder if that's because people think the government will be checking this video out? 🤔😉
@@nickharrison1604 You missed the wink at the end of my comment.
This is a great video, legit is reassuring to get your detailed insight on all this!
I bet Kier Starmer isn’t even aware of how it’s priced
Thanks for confirming that the perception from abroad regarding the quality of the current vs the previous UK government is correct.
RE: More ambition on heating systems. I'm involved with a UK government funded electric heating project and, in short, the ambition is there too but there are 3 critical issues:
- Governments approach is not ideal
- We have an enormous skill problem
- Yes, the electricity price is too high!
On the approaches, currently the grant and regulation structure entirely prevents a range of alternate green heating systems such as (reversible heat pump) AC and this is actually by design to avoid excessive load on the grid during summer. Of course, blocking options means lower uptake. Secondly it also prevents a large, typically productive group of people in this country: DIYers. Despite being really just a large plumbing project, you can't fit any part of a wet heat pump system yourself without losing access to the grant schemes. Being able to prepare ones own house to receive one, provide proof, and then receive the units for free and have an electrician do the final hookup would likely help massively reduce cost and increase uptake, however, the electricity price is simply fatal at the moment.
Incredible Simon! I’d love for you to have more influence on our government, hopefully now you’re on their radar maybe you will be! X
I'm very glad Simon gets to continue making the videos.
I simply cannot imagine America's orange monstrosity doing such a thing. Good on him for it
It's hard to not love your content the way you blend real science communication and what at least I would consider excellent journalism is wonderful to watch, legit climate science and politics around it are one of the few areas I'm able to keep upto date on and that's mostly thanks to your videos, love what you do Simon
Glad your hardwork and honest communication is being recognised. Have they offered you a position as policy communicator?
Simon, will we get a follow up video on what happened in Busan on plastic pollution?
Wow, what an end to such a turbulent year! I'm so happy for you man.
When you made your video about quitting I was devastated. Your videos are of such high quality and the topics are so pressing, that they are a necessity on this platform. But I had no opportunity to support you on Patreon, and didn't support there to be enough any time soon. But damn I was wrong, and I can only imagine how you must have felt when you saw it go up. This year must have been insane with everything that happened, and you got to go out with a bang.
I hope you actually get to enjoy the feeling of looking back and seeing the progress, because I can imagine it might be overwhelming as well. But you deserve it all, Simon! Please continue to make these amazing videos. I'll be here to watch and someday you can expect me on Patreon :)
I thought it was disappointing Keir Starmer didn’t refer to energy pricing structure, because he talked about wanting to make U.K. pricing not dependent on global pricing which means you have to change the model where electricity prices are set by the “energy of last resort” which is gas power stations
That is such an uplifting video, thank you!
So glad your year has had such a turn around! Can't think of anyone better to be in that room - education is a huge part of the solution.
As someone who knows you most through random Yog streams, but keeps tabs on your content, this was so incredible to see! You’re doing good work Dr Simon!
Great video, thank you for creating such valuable content.
With a large amount of electricity production that can not be regulated, there will be large differences in the price paid. No intermediate source should be directly connected to the grid like it mostly is at the moment. Instead there should be a short term buffer in between (1-2 hours) the source and grid. This will even out prices and reduce the average price. There is also a need for storage unit that can days of usage. This can also help reducing the average price, and increase the grid stability.
I don't think you've met a lot of politicians before, so just a quick word of caution: They're all (for the most part) "nice" people. They know how to converse, they know how to be likable. That's basically how they came into the position they're in. But don't be fooled by their eloquence or their manners - judge them by their actions, not by their words. And I'm afraid for most politicians, they're much worse people than they seem. I've been active in politics before and have met lots of ministers and members of parliament (not in the UK though), but at some point I just couldn't take it anymore: The most successful politicians are all excellent at back-stabbing and experts in diversion and deception. Don't be fooled, just because you had "a nice chat" with some "nice people".
So cool! I’m glad Labor and the UK is committed to the renewable energy transition.
Simon, thank you. Awesome stuff. Your video quality is top grade and your content is eminently watchable and topical.
Thanks also for the Nebula idea. My wife has been asking what I want for Christmas and typically for a first world person I was stumped. I had been thinking Audible, but now I know a Nebula subscription is the best idea.
I know very little about politics but I'm inclined to trust our government much more for inviting you, specifically, to this. What a fantastic nod to your work Simon, major kudos!
Did you not ask about the rosebank drilling licences and why they are continuing with that?
Dr Simon Clark, have they laid out any road map for solar and battery storage?
There's a concern in rural areas they are selling farmland for specific use as solar and battery farms, yet they are not even wired up to the grid. Additionally, I have seen no drive to push solar on urban areas like car parks that would be much more aesthetic than on a rural land.
Finally, why is there no push to massively subsidise solar on homes?
Surely that would push 95% consumer grid use and achieve the cost reduction on electricity for consumers?
Really interesting video! Even if you didn't quite get the conclusive answer you were maybe hoping for, it's always good to see genuine questions being asked, and politicians answering what they can to said questions. Often there's far too much sensationalism in questions asked and answers given. Keep up the good work!
oh man kudos to you, I would NOT have handled this as well as you did. I'm not a big fan of the prime minister, and I'd probably let him know. But it brings me hope to know good folks such as yourself are somewhat involved in the decision-making
The prime minister seems to think that wind and solar are cheap and reliable. Shame he isn't capable of listening to your question.
Just want to say thank you for your work - both your advocacy work and what you've taught me about climate science. Pleased to see 2024 has been a good one for you. - from A Fellow Exeter Alum 😊
I was once an intern in national politics in the Netherlands, I can confirm, they are normal people. Don't know if that is reassuring much though.
Getting to meet your country’s prime minister is definitely cool! Your work with all your videos paid of 😃
The PM actually lives in 11 Downing Street, but do all their press announcements and photo ops in front of the 10 Downing Street door.
But the proper door to the residential area of the building is 11 Downing Street .
Very well done. We could use your intellect and your insights across the Pond!
When my manager asks "Hey, can we talk in a minute?", I go into a mild panic. If I was told the government wanted to talk to me, I would just have heart failure right then. But to be asked back? Hell yeah, you're doing the good work!
I was initially going to pass on this one, but I'm very glad I watched it from the details offered.
Good job on the journalism mate