Net Zero will destroy businesses

Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, has said that Net Zero risks crushing businesses if imposed in the wrong way.

'The wrong way'? I would suggest that there is no correct way to implement Net Zero. It destroys business opportunities because it prices energy at an absurdly high level, and it is implementing energy policies which cannot supply the energy we need.

Ms. Coutinho outlines two paths:

1. An ever-increasing and narrow set of targets and restrictions, where government dictates outputs and prices, and a Net Zero leviathan of central planning which crushes our economy. Companies go bankrupt or give up, resulting in stress for everyone involved; jobs and earnings disappear.

2. Living with some uncertainty, knowing that it is one of the key stimulants of risk and product development that competes to win over consumers.

She recommends path 2, allowing pollution to be tackled whilst keeping the lights on and costs low.

She points out that we produce less than one percent of global carbon dioxide emissions (....which don't drive climate anyway - it's complicated - and her idea of a 'low' energy price isn't the same as mine - Ed) and that the best way to tackle climate change is by innovation.

So it seems there is some acknowledgement that current policy is unwise, but it's as close as we're going to get to the truth at the moment. No politican is going to admit that Net Zero is a disaster. It would lead to red faces all round.

Predictably, a well-paid Department of Energy representative said that Net Zero is an 'amazing opportunity'.

Try working that one out.



ND/ habitat21

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