Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander will announce today
that ministers have signed a memorandum of understanding with
Japanese firm Hitachi, to build a new nuclear plant at Wylfa on the
Welsh island of Anglesey.

The government is announcing today that it will cut support
for onshore wind and solar from 2015, but will be increasing
support for offshore wind. The changes were discussed on the Today
programme and the final figures will be announced in a written
ministerial statement later on today.

The BBC News has seen an internal government memo blaming
British Gas for inflating the costs of insulation measure ECO. Two
rival energy firms have also told the BBC that they wanted the
targets under ECO to be shifted to the general taxation budget, but
the ambition retained.

Consultancy Lux Research used a “bottom-up system cost
model” to analyze the cost of energy for solar, natural gas, and
hybrid systems. It found the cost of solar – unsubsidized by any
government program – met or dropped below natural gas in virtually
every region of the world by 2025.

In a report released on Tuesday, a scientific panel
appointed by the National Research Council in the USA warned
continued global warming poses a risk of rapid, drastic changes in
some human and natural systems.

The limit of 2C of global warming agreed by the world’s
governments is a “dangerous target”, “foolhardy” and will not avoid
the most disastrous consequences of climate change, according to a
new paper from Professor James Hansen and a team of international
experts.

Professor Paul Ekins says Labour’s ten point energy plan
(summarised by Carbon Brief

Climate skeptic Matt Ridley claims the government is right
now “fixing the prices we will have to pay for nuclear, wind and
biomass power for decades to come.” He says that oil, gas and coal
prices are dropping, so support for renewables threatens our
economic competitiveness.

A poll of 1,941 people suggests 44 per cent of those
questioned who know about fracking, support it, with 34 per cent
against. 73 per cent of those in favour said they still had
concerns about the process.

A new report from the US National Research Council
summarises the scientific knowledge about abrupt climate change –
changes that cross a “tipping point” and severely affect the
physical climate system, natural systems or human systems.

Despite being located in a rapidly warming part of the
world, scientists have found a thriving community of deep sea
animals along the west Antarctic peninsula. But the researchers say
further warming means this is unlikely to stay the case for long.

Two degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels would be
enough to trigger “disastrous consequences”, according to a new
paper. Veteran climate scientist James Hansen and colleagues argue
continuing with high emissions would be an “extraordinary witting
intergenerational injustice”.

Long term records of how glaciers are responding to warming
are in short supply. New research suggests the Careser glacier in
Italy may disappear within a few decades if recent rates of melting
continue, putting an end to a valuable and unique observation
series.