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NEB/PEB: Attempts to engage with the organisers (unsuccessful)

This web page summarises the correspondence between Carbon Independent and the organisers of the National Emergency Briefing (NEB) and People's Emergency Briefing (PEB).

Genuine concerns that the NEB and PEB are advocating non-emergency actions rather than emergency action have been communicated to the NEB/PEB organisers via Bluesky and email.

In summary, the NEB/PEB organisers have not responded to any of the communications from Carbon Independent.

Comment: This failure to engage is very disappointing. Making an appropriate response to the Climate Emergency is an enormous challenge for mankind. All well-meaning people should be working together to overcome the challenges.

The NEB/PEB organisers should be encouraging scrutiny and feedback, and should engage with genuine concerns, as is the norm in science. They should not be supported until they do this.

Concerns about the National Emergency Briefing and People's Emergency Briefing

There are concerns that the National Emergency Briefing (NEB) and People's Emergency Briefing (PEB) are seriously flawed by advocating non-emergency climate action.

See
1. https://www.carbonindependent.org/198.html National Emergency Briefing: Positives, serious flaws and corrections needed
2. https://www.carbonindependent.org/199.html People's Emergency Briefing: Positives, serious flaws and corrections needed.

These concerns have been communicated to the NEB/PEB organisers via Bluesky and email.

Posts on Bluesky

Comments have been posted on Bluesky in response to posts by the NEB/PEB organisers - see https://bsky.app/profile/iancampbell.bsky.social (viewing these posts requires a Bluesky account).

No replies have been posted by the NEB/PEB team.

Emails sent to NEB/PEB organisers

Two emails have been sent to the NEB/PEB organisers.

No replies have been received to date from the NEB/PEB organising team, or from those copied in, not even an acknowledgement.


Email 1 (20 May 2026) to NEB/PEB:
Subject:  National Emergency Briefing and People’s Emergency Briefing: Critical friend feedback
Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 11:10
From: Ian Campbell
To: simon@nebriefing.org, nick@nebriefing.org
CC: Prof Mike Berners-Lee

Dear Simon Oldridge and Nick Oldridge,
I'm writing with some 'critical friend' feedback on the National Emergency Briefing and the People's Emergency Briefing.
I think that you should be complimented on what you have achieved, but I’m sorry to say that I think there are major problems with both the NEB and the PEB.
While they make an excellent case for emergency climate action, the measures discussed are mostly non-emergency transitions, which adds to the widespread climate denial across society, and risks doing more harm than good.
I've set out my assessments at
(1) https://www.carbonindependent.org/198.html National Emergency Briefing: Positives, serious flaws and corrections needed
(2) https://www.carbonindependent.org/199.html People's Emergency Briefing: Positives, serious flaws and corrections needed
Please could you let me know if you feel that there are any errors, serious omissions, or misjudgements in the articles, so that I can correct them - and also if you plan to make any changes as a result of these articles.
I hope that you will take these comments as 'critical friend' feedback. The Covid Inquiry found that groupthink was a major factor in the Government’s covid policy errors, and recommended 'red-teaming' i.e. that all organisations welcome external scrutiny as important in ensuring good decision making.
Kind regards,
Ian
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Ian Campbell BA BSc MD FRCS FRCR
https://www.carbonindependent.org - carbon footprint and carbon budget calculators
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Email 2 (3 Jun 2026) to NEB/PEB:
Subject:  National Emergency Briefing and People's Emergency Briefing: Critical friend feedback: Positives, serious flaws and corrections needed
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2026 09:44
From: Ian Campbell
To: simon@nebriefing.org, nick@nebriefing.org
CC: Prof Mike Berners-Lee, *Prof Nathalie Seddon, Prof Kevin Anderson, Prof H Fowler, Prof Tim Lenton, Prof Paul Behrens, Prof H Montgomery, ben@nebriefing.org, diler@nebriefing.org, mike@nebriefing.org, bencarey@utopiabureau.com, Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh

Dear Simon Oldridge and Nick Oldridge,
I wrote to you two weeks ago about my concerns that the NEB/PEB will do more harm than good through encouraging climate complacency, but I have not yet received a reply. Please could you tell me if you are intending to reply, and if so, when this is likely to be.
There is an enormous amount of confusion and misinformation about climate action, and so it is vital that all who care about the climate emergency work together around a clear evidence-based consensus.
I feel strongly that you should not be contradicting the IPCC about the need for emergency action.
Sincerely,
Ian Campbell
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Ian Campbell BA BSc MD FRCS FRCR
https://www.carbonindependent.org - carbon footprint and carbon budget calculators
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* NEB speakers were copied in if there was a publicly available email address


Started: 12 Jun 2026
Last updated: 14 Jun 2026     Page No: 201