The fault here is not a target of net zero in nearly 30 years time but the past 30 years of serial failure in energy policy. This resulted in the UK failing to build on its early strength in nuclear power, pretending natural gas wouldn’t be a crucial transitional energy source and U-turning on climate policies.
Whereas Brexit was a binary question, net-zero is the product of a sum and there are an almost infinite number of variables on the other side of the equals sign. Rather than bashing opponents for their stupidity or trying to scare them with tales of environmental apocalypse, supporters of net-zero should use that flexibility to their advantage.
This should include pushing for the faster rollout of nuclear power stations and small modular reactors, giving ground on fracking (given that individual projects will almost certainly be killed off by local communities anyway) and accepting the North Sea will be crucial to meeting our energy needs for years to come.
And for heaven’s sake, stop pushing for a windfall tax on oil companies that have the audacity to make enough of a profit this year to cover the loss last year and are rewarding shareholders for sticking with them through the energy transition by paying them dividends.
Proponents of net-zero should above all be accentuating the benefits. Sceptical about man-made climate change? Fine, but how about being able to tell Putin where to get off, or reviving the UK’s manufacturing industry and creating jobs in Red Wall constituencies, or developing cutting-edge technology that can be exported around the world?
Yesterday, South Korea’s SeAH Wind announced it is planning to spend up to £300m building a factory next to the River Tees to make steel foundations for offshore wind turbines that will create 2,000 jobs. So, hands up in the Net Zero Scrutiny Group if you’re unhappy about the creation of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the North East?
Yes, the UK is only responsible for 1.1pc of global carbon output and will therefore not be able to move the dial on its own. But shouldn’t this country, as Margaret Thatcher suggested in her speech about climate change to the UN in 1989, be taking the lead in fighting global problems?
Do we really want to leave it to China, which installed more offshore wind capacity last year than every other nation on the planet managed in the previous five years, or Emmanuel Macron, who has called for a “renaissance” in French nuclear power and plans to build up to 14 new reactors by 2050? It has long been assumed that green policies are the preserve of the Left. But the basis of conservation is a deeply conservative propensity for stewardship, in this case of the environment, in order that it can be passed on to future generations.
It also taps into some innately British traits. This week The Telegraph launched a Clean Rivers Campaign. Our future king talks to plants and has been campaigning on everything from organic farming to rainforests for decades. As a nation we’ve practically beatified David Attenborough.
Is this a fight the culture warriors really want to pick?
