On Tuesday, the UK fired up some of its standby coal units for the first time, as plunging temperatures, low wind speeds and strikes in France cutting electricity imports left the market short of supplies. Despite only meeting 5% of UK demand at its peak that evening, the events saw some commentators lamenting a “return to coal”.

Yet this story masks a bigger picture. As Carbon Brief’s annual analysis of UK emissions revealed this week, coal use continued its precipitous decline last year, falling by 15%. The last time coal use was that low in the UK was in 1757, when George II was on the throne and before the industrial revolution had even begun.

This decline – which was driven by strong growth in wind and solar power, above-average temperatures and record-high fossil fuel prices that also pushed down gas demand – helped to drive down the nation’s emissions by 3.4%. It means the UK is now around halfway to meeting its net-zero emissions target in 2050.

However, there is no room for complacency. As senior policy editor Dr Simon Evans, who conducted the analysis, wrote:

“Similar cuts will be needed every year, for the next three decades, in order to reach net-zero by 2050.”

A big part of this effort will be facilitated by an expanded power sector, which currently relies heavily on gas. The government has set a goal of “fully decarbonising” Great Britain’s electricity system by 2035. (Northern Ireland is on a separate grid.)

This week its official climate advisers released their assessment of how this could be achieved. Carbon Brief has read through and summarised the 131-page report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC). The in-depth summary includes a detailed assessment of how the nation would cope when the wind does not blow – a popular talking point among self-styled “net-zero sceptics”.

The CCC concludes that a flexible, secure and decarbonised electricity grid by 2035 is “within sight” – but only with “urgent reform” and a big focus on “flexible low-carbon” solutions, such as hydrogen turbines, to fill gaps in supply from renewables.

Two-thirds of the world’s vast expanse of ocean sits outside the jurisdiction of any nation. 

That might be good news for pirates, but it has made protecting the high seas – and their abundant marine biodiversity – nigh on impossible.

Last weekend, however, there was a major breakthrough. After years of tense negotiations – and a 38-hour non-stop final session – the world’s nations agreed to a new deal at the UN headquarters in New York.

The “High Seas Treaty” is yet to be formally adopted, but the agreed text establishes a new regime of protections. These are all explained in detail in a Q&A by Carbon Brief’s Aruna Chandrasekhar and Dr Giuliana Viglione, who were tracking the negotiations closely.

They also set out why, more broadly, this treaty could be so significant:

“The ocean, as a whole, takes up 90% of the excess heat and around 25% of the CO2 generated by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels. But the lack of formalised protections for much of the ocean has left it vulnerable to overfishing, pollution and the effects of climate change.”

Carbon Brief published a guest post on Monday about a new study, assessing the most recent climate adaptation plans of 167 European cities.

The paper, which was published in Nature’s NPJ Urban Sustainability journal, found that the cities have “mostly improved” when it comes to setting adaptation goals and “outlining” their implementation. However, there has only been a “slight improvement” on how the implementation of city plans is monitored and on including civil society in plan making.

And which cities are currently doing it right? “The Bulgarian capital Sofia and the Irish cities of Galway and Dublin score highest for their plans.”

More than lip service: in the struggle to curb climate change, we must listen to women

Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Politico

Clean energy is suddenly less polarising than you think
David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times

First COP15, now the high seas treaty: there is hope for the planet’s future
Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian

The coming EV batteries will sweep away fossil fuel transport, with or without net-zero
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Daily Telegraph

UK poised to redefine atomic power as ‘green’ in bid to pull in private investment 

Carbon Brief’s media round-up from Friday 10 March.

‘Urgent changes’ needed to achieve decarbonised power system, report says

Carbon Brief’s media round-up from Thursday 9 March.

Exxon says it is reevaluating Europe strategy after windfall taxes

Carbon Brief’s media round-up from Wednesday 8 March

Revealed: 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks risk triggering climate tipping points

Carbon Brief’s media round-up from Tuesday 7 March.

Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks

Carbon Brief’s media round-up from Monday 6 March.