Barney joined Tortoise as a recent graduate after working as a researcher for a public affairs agency in Malaysia.
Barney Macintyre
Reporter
“Tortoise is journalism democratised. There’s nothing quite like it.”
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Monday 16 January 2023
A gigafactory of one’s own
What happened to BritishVolt, the UK’s homegrown battery champion?
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Tuesday 10 January 2023
Making hay
Biodiversity or “sustainable intensification” of agriculture? A group of MPs who are also members of a group part-funded by pesticide makers would prefer the latter.
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Sunday 8 January 2023
The fight over rewilding
Brexit was meant to transform land management. Some MPs have other ideas
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Tuesday 1 November 2022
A narrowing path
Alok Sharma, Cop26 president, says the King’s attendance at climate talks this year would help. What else needs to happen to keep 1.5C alive?
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Tuesday 25 October 2022
What Putin’s war means for net zero
War in Ukraine is reshaping the flow of energy around the world. But what about emissions?
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Tuesday 11 October 2022
Sensemaker: Defiant Scottish funk
What just happened
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Tuesday 13 September 2022
Truss and net zero
What is this government telling us about net zero?
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Tuesday 30 August 2022
Footing the bill
Poor regulation is partly to blame for the astronomical energy bills Brits are facing this winter. It’s time for a rethink on energy policy.
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Tuesday 23 August 2022
Rainforest for sale
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s decision to sell forest to oil companies is part of a wider African push into fossil fuels. But who’s buying?
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Tuesday 16 August 2022
Dried and tested
Drought in Europe should be a wake up call to start preparing for more extreme weather.
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Tuesday 12 July 2022
Putin’s other nuclear project
By classifying gas and nuclear as “green” investments the EU has indirectly handed Putin a pay check. More must be done, including sanctions on uranium, to end his grip on Europe’s power supply.
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Tuesday 21 June 2022
Delayism and disinformation
Misinformation about climate change remains rife on social media. Platforms must first define and then counter the problem before it causes more harm.
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Tuesday 31 May 2022
A bump in the road for EVs
Before electric vehicles become ubiquitous and affordable, automakers will need to fix their supply chain issues.
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Tuesday 3 May 2022
China’s coal revival
A series of domestic and international crises have deepened China’s addiction to coal. What will it take to wean it off?
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Tuesday 19 April 2022
Removals required
We’ll need a wider variety of ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere if we’re going to keep the planet cool.
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Tuesday 5 April 2022
Who controls Telegram?
How much do we really know about Telegram and its policies?
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Tuesday 5 April 2022
Nuclear option
Nuclear power is a key part of the government’s strategy, but an inadequate solution to the energy crisis and the need for immediate and deep decarbonisation
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Tuesday 15 March 2022
Drill, baby, drill
It’s tempting to believe the solution to cutting soaring energy bills is lying beneath our feet. But after a decade dreaming of a US-style shale revolution, fracking has failed to deliver.
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Tuesday 1 March 2022
Flood warning
Part two of the IPCC landmark report on climate change highlights both the risks and opportunities for cities.
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Tuesday 15 February 2022
Climate backlash
The government needs to make it clear to the public that net zero remains a priority, despite high gas prices and calls to delay from the backbench.
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Tuesday 1 February 2022
Beijing breathes
The Beijing Winter Olympics are taking place in an area completely unsuited to winter sports. But at least the air will be clearer than it was in 2008
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Tuesday 18 January 2022
Siberia melts
Permafrost covers nine million square miles of the Earth’s surface – and it’s thawing faster than ever. Will the big melt become a climate feedback loop?
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Wednesday 5 January 2022
You say green, I say greenwash
The EU is trying to define what constitutes a “green” investment, but member states have conflicting ideas about what that really means.
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Tuesday 14 December 2021
The cap fits
Imagine a world in which carbon cap and trade systems actually worked. Guess what? It’s happening.
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Tuesday 7 December 2021
Climate intelligence
Humans aren’t finding climate solutions fast enough. Luckily, machines can help.
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Tuesday 23 November 2021
Green bills
US Congress has a habit of killing off climate-focused legislation. Can Biden’s transformative bill make it through?
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Friday 12 November 2021
Promises and compromises
Will a deal emerge from Glasgow that has the teeth to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees? Or will the forces of inactivism prevail?
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Tuesday 9 November 2021
Climate law’s tipping point
The law is becoming an increasingly powerful tool in holding companies and countries to account on their emissions – but some cases fail to bring the latest science into the courtroom.
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Friday 5 November 2021
Curtains for coal?
The UK Cop presidency has made ending coal use its main mission. Will a new global deal succeed in banishing the black stuff?
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Tuesday 26 October 2021
The C100 Special
Findings from Tortoise’s Responsibility 100 Index show that the UK’s biggest supermarket chains are failing basic transparency tests when reporting on their environmental impact.
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Friday 22 October 2021
Can Asia kick its coal habit?
The world’s most populous continent, with its fastest-growing economies, depends on coal. We’ve mapped the data over the last 50 years to try and get a sense of this critical challenge for Asia – and the world
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Tuesday 19 October 2021
Climate specifics
In advance of Cop 26, there remains a yawning gap between countries’ pledges and policy action. Britain is making a last-ditch effort to narrow it
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Tuesday 12 October 2021
Geared for take-off
Aviation talks a big game about reaching net zero. But to actually achieve it, the industry and customers face some tough choices.
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Tuesday 28 September 2021
Tortoise at Cop26
Join us at The New York Times Climate Hub as we discuss Cop26, and help build a practical to-do list to save the planet.
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Tuesday 21 September 2021
The Great Climate Exodus
Humans have always been a relentlessly mobile species. But climate change is accelerating the number of people fleeing drought and disaster. How will developed nations respond?
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Friday 17 September 2021
Scotland’s second blueprint
In 2013, the SNP published a white paper detailing its plan for an independent future. The world has changed so dramatically since then that key issues in its proposal need to be updated ahead of a potential second vote.
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Tuesday 24 August 2021
The hydrogen society
Is the widespread adoption of hydrogen a necessary step towards net zero?
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Tuesday 17 August 2021
Methane matters
Decarbonisation alone won’t solve the climate crisis. In the scramble to prevent average temperatures climbing more than 1.5°C within the next 20 years, we meed to slash methane emissions too.
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Monday 23 January 2023
Flat battery: the collapse of BritishVolt
The demise of the electric car battery firm is a blow for the UK government’s attempt to phase out petrol and diesel engines by 2030. Can it still realise its electric dreams?
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Wednesday 16 November 2022
Campaigners at Cop
The changing face of COP’s young climate activists.
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Monday 7 November 2022
Egypt’s bad cop
The story of one man, fighting to his last breath, to reveal the darkness that lies behind this year’s UN Climate Change Conference
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Thursday 29 September 2022
Take frack control
Geology, public opinion and even some of her own MPs are opposed to Liz Truss’s plan to lift the ban on fracking for gas. Will it ever happen?
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Tuesday 20 September 2022
Could there be blackouts?
Prices have been frozen but Britain could still experience energy shortages. How likely is it that we’ll see blackouts this winter?
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Monday 11 July 2022
Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has proposed a date for a second independence referendum. Why now, and will it happen?
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Friday 6 May 2022
Time for a windfall tax?
Bumper profits posted by the world’s biggest oil and gas producers have reinvigorated calls in the UK for a windfall tax. Could it solve the cost of living crisis?