{"id":659989,"date":"2026-10-28T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/659989\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T22:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T22:00:09","slug":"the-jackdaw-gasfield-net-zero-and-climate-adaptation-green-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/659989\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jackdaw gasfield, net zero and climate adaptation | Green economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham writes that his determination to tackle the climate crisis is \u201cunwavering\u201d and that the transition must not leave communities behind (We will make the net-zero transition work for Britain \u2013 approving the Jackdaw gasfield is part of the plan, 22 October<\/a>). Whatever one thinks of Jackdaw, the test of that pledge is\u00a0whether people are also protected from climate impacts that are already here.<\/p>\n

The research that you reported on last week attributed two-thirds of the heat deaths that it estimated \u2013 4,354 of them in the UK \u2013 to climate change.<\/p>\n

The numbers from that study were not available when the health secretary took questions in the Commons last Tuesday, but the signs were \u2013 stretched ambulance services, cancelled operations and\u00a0overheated wards. Heat was barely mentioned.<\/p>\n

The prime minister says that he will not be \u201cso careless with people\u2019s lives\u201d as oil and gas workers face the transition. He is right, and the same care is owed to older people in care homes, pregnant women, patients on hospital wards and outdoor workers facing the next heatwave.<\/p>\n

So the government must commit to practical action before next summer. That means effective cooling and heatwave plans in hospitals, maternity units and care homes, stronger early warnings, welfare checks for isolated older people, and protections for workers in dangerous temperatures. The Climate Change Committee has shown that the investment needed\u00a0is manageable and the cost\u00a0of inaction far greater.<\/p>\n

Net zero and adaptation are not alternatives. Mr Burnham should say what he will deliver, and when.
\n
Emma Howard Boyd
\n
Chair, National Heat Risk Commission<\/p>\n

The idea of using fossil fuels as a \u201cbridge\u201d to green energy has been touted by polluters and politicians since the 1980s. It\u2019s mind-boggling that we\u2019re still at this point.<\/p>\n

Energy security, national security and avoiding climate catastrophe all come with rapidly expanding green technologies such as heat pumps and renewables. The benefits there far outweigh those produced by gas drilling, and it\u2019s these that should be Andy\u00a0Burnham\u2019s full focus when he talks of a green transition. After decades of delay, the world\u2019s transition now\u00a0needs to be fast.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the failure of the politicians who came before, we need heaps of gas to heat our homes this winter, but the idea of baking that in for more decades isn\u2019t just stupid \u2013 to myself and my peers who look ahead with fear at an increasingly precarious future, this decision is an insult.
\n
Gwydion Elliott
\n
Sheffield<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham \u2013 \u201cnot a climate guy<\/a>\u201d, according to one of his MPs \u2013 argues in his opinion article that an increase in CO2 emissions is required to bring down CO2 emissions. George Orwell would\u00a0appreciate that.
\n
Douglas Currie
\n
Edinburgh<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham writes that his determination to tackle the climate crisis is \u201cunwavering\u201d and that the transition must…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-659989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}