We must end the Net Zero delusion before it’s too late – Telegraph

Posted: March 11, 2024 by oldbrew in alarmism, NetZero, opinion, Politics
Tags:


Enough of the pretence, says the paper. It’s only arguing about methods of implementation e.g. targets, but better than nothing. The central plan is a drag on the whole country in the name of a climate theory that can’t be shown to be valid, using climate models that can’t even model the past or present with the necessary accuracy.
– – –
Political obituaries will not be kind to Theresa May, says The Telegraph.

But there is one unwritten law of modern British politics the former prime minister understood: you can be wrong on climate change, provided you are wrong in the right way.

Whisper that net zero by 2050 will have deleterious social and economic costs, and accusations of “denialism” will swiftly follow.

Yet warn that the “house is on fire” and the end time is at hand, and you’ll probably be given a book deal.

Not only did May commit the UK to the 2050 target, but in the years since she has doggedly called for the Government to move faster. Last year, just months before we became the first economy to halve emissions since 1990, she claimed we were “falling behind”.

Such attitudes are commonplace – and it will only get worse. Pity the prime minister in charge in 2033, when the sixth “Carbon Budget” kicks in, or in 2035, when electricity will apparently be fully decarbonised. A gulf now lies between the wishful thinking of the political class and economic reality, yet still the discourse is dominated by doomsday language and a worrying desire to silence dissent.

Consider the words of Climate Change Committee (CCC) boss Chris Stark, when asked for clarity over claims of a “mistake” (which it has denied) made by the body. “How’s this,” he told his team, “kill it with some technical language.” Like the clergy greedily collecting tithes from peasants unable to understand Latin, the green Blob seem to assume an unsuspecting public can be confused or shamed – usually both – into compliance.

The CCC, set up to advise government on climate policies, is useful to elected leaders eager to grandstand without taking responsibility or accountability for the choices they make for us. It allowed politicians to bypass the opportunity to scrutinise the 2050 target because they relied on the CCC’s apparently unchallengeable assessment that net zero was “necessary, feasible, cost-effective” and “achievable with known technologies”.

Yet in December, the OECD warned that the shift will leave our economy £60 billion – or 1.65 per cent – smaller. The idea that the green economy will lead to a jobs boom ignores the redundancies in those sectors that can never ride the net-zero wave, while the suggestion that the UK will be more prosperous and secure is difficult to square with our growing reliance on other countries for gas, oil, steel and the manufactures they rely on.

It is time politicians ended the delusion that the current, top-down, centrally-planned approach to decarbonisation is the right one, and can be delivered at low cost.

Full article here.

Comments
  1. oldbrew says:

    The ‘elephant in the room’ that risks exposing Britain’s net zero agenda

    UK’s ‘hidden’ carbon emissions fail to show the bigger picture

    Britain has offshored its carbon footprint

    Last month, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, head of chemicals giant Ineos, wrote to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, warning that the UK and Europe were “sleepwalking towards offshoring its industry, jobs, investments, and emissions”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/11/britain-hidden-carbon-emissions-net-zero-lie/

    The plan isn’t really working but leaders claim it is.

  2. jb says:

    Michael Crichton: “Sit down at a dinner party, and you say: The world is coming to an end—we have the most horrible things [imminent], and you immediately get the aroused attention at the table. Alternatively, you say, you know what? Basically everything’s good. The world’s getting better.
    Charlie: Nobody cares?
    Michael: No! They get angry, or they turn away. It’s not what we want to hear. We want to hear disaster.”
    Michael Crichton–Charlie Rose interview 2007

    Politicians (like priests and psychometrists) often are True Believers with brains made of diorite. Yet the people who participate in their appointment persist in selecting such stone-heads to “lead” them, and then frantically decry their actions which are askew their intended direction.

  3. oldbrew says:

    Back to the future! Penny finally drops for net zero mania…

    Rishi Sunak announces new gas power stations to ease risk of blackouts

    UK to build extra energy infrastructure despite PM’s earlier pledge to phase out fossil fuels to achieve net zero target

    12 March 2024

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/12/rishi-sunak-new-gas-power-stations-blackout-risk-net-zero/

    DT: ‘Last month, a separate report by Public First warned that delays to new nuclear power stations would leave the UK at risk of blackouts by 2028.’

  4. oldbrew says:

    When it’s cold in Sweden, i.e. quite often…

    MAR 11, 2024 – Welcome To Net Zero: Sweden Charging Its E-Buses Using Diesel Generators

    There isn’t enough energy and infrastructure to go around to charge all these new electric buses.The Solution?

    They have now brought in massive diesel generators to be able to charge the electric buses – This of course at an extra cost.

    https://climatechangedispatch.com/welcome-to-net-zero-sweden-charging-its-e-buses-using-diesel-generators/

    So no ‘cleaner’ than diesel buses in the end, but a lot more costly and harder to manage 🙄

  5. saighdear says:

    Well now !  Aren’t they ashamed of themselves !  Whaurs Greta hideen?
    AND BTW, I’ve just found out that when we in rural Scotland have power cuts, we should see and bide close to an aul’ Couple – so’s they at least will get the “Hydro Board” to come and attach a DIESEL Generator to keep them toastie warm and useful, making us pots o’ soup.  In the past we have used our generator capacity to do that, BUT ( & NO WORD about it in past Budget – fuel duty – petrol petrol petrol is all they know) we have to use DERV fuel if not for Agric purposes – so gets expensive. The Hydro magic the costs away and the auld yins only pay for the Electricity which they consume ( from the meter )  is that any better ?

  6. darteck says:

    saighdear says: March 12, 2024 at 2:51 pm

    “The Hydro magic the costs away and the auld yins only pay for the Electricity which they consume ( from the meter )  is that any better ?”

    No! Energy costs what energy ‘costs’ on the/an ‘open market’! This is determined by both our ‘Government’ and ‘other’ ‘governmental’ energy sources that we ‘buy’ from ‘other governed regions’. The ‘self sufficiency card’ is best played with our ability to ‘supply’ other ‘markets’ with energy from our market. How to do this? IMHO, improve our ‘power production’ at a ‘lower cost’ (how to do this?), ‘conjoin’ our ‘national skills need’ with the required ‘procurement’ and ‘pay this’ by/with the ‘energy “procurement” tax.

    I’m unsure of this, please advise

  7. oldbrew says:

  8. oldbrew says:

    The heat pump fantasy is dead – only our blinkered elites haven’t noticed

    Expensive and unreliable, heat pumps are a nightmare for consumers. It’s little wonder the government has resorted to bribes

    ROSS CLARK 18 March 2024

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/18/heat-pumps-net-zero-green-energy-fossil-fuels/

    Bad news for Labour greenies…

    Britain’s energy system will not hit net zero until 2035, National Grid tells Labour

    Accelerated timeline for a carbon neutral grid would weigh more heavily on bill payers

    Jonathan Leake 19 March 2024

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/19/britains-energy-system-not-hit-net-zero-until-2035/

  9. oldbrew says:

    Doubt cast on Scotland’s 2030 climate targets

    The Climate Change Committee raises concerns over Scotland’s ability to meet its 2030 emission reduction goals due to missed targets and delayed plans, urging urgent action and effective policies

    https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/03/20/doubt-cast-on-scotlands-2030-climate-targets/

    ‘urgent action and effective policies’ – such as? Scotland doesn’t need cooling down anyway 😎

Leave a comment