Will Cop 26 Bring Some Honesty About What Net Zero Will Take ?
When are we going to get some honesty about the cost of Net Zero? With COP26 about to be held it’s a hot topic. What will the costs of "Going Green" really be?
When are we going to get some honesty about the cost of Net Zero? With COP26 about to be held it’s a hot topic. From Boris talking about “Building Back Better” with a “Green Industrial Revolution” what will it mean for the average person? And, what does it really mean for the environment? There is a distinct lack of clarity or indeed honesty to these questions and we all should be asking a lot more, what does it mean to me?
The UK currently produces just 1% of global CO2 emissions 5.55 Tonnes per Capita with a reduction of 6.38% on the previous year’s figures. Compare that to China, producing a whopping 29% of global emissions, or India while at 7% of global emissions increased their CO2 contribution by nearly 5%. So as countries like India and China continue to spew CO2 into the air will reducing the UK’s 1% make any difference whatsoever?
There is a good argument for leading by example, it’s an ethos that I’ve always tried to adopt, and plenty of the “Elite” have been criticised for a lack of it. Be it Matt Hancock telling us all to stay away from our friends and family, while joyfully if not rather rigidly, playing tongue tennis with an aide, or Dame Emma Thompson, who flew from LA to London so she could climb on a pink boat and tell us all to give up flying, and let’s not forget the latest Insulate Britain’s Liam Norton, who callously encourages activists to superglue themselves to roads demanding the taxpayers insulate everyone’s houses, while living in a mostly un-insulated house himself! Even Gleneagles hotel has been criticised for hiring diesel generators to charge electric cars used to ferry delegates to the Cop26 conference. It would be far less polluting to run diesel cars, but no, they have to virtue signal and give photo opportunities to delegates getting in and out of EV’s. Some people’s apparent hypocrisy knows no bounds. But can we claim to be so virtuous as a country ourselves? After all, we import so much that is manufactured in countries like China and India, have we just outsourced our carbon emissions?
Certainly, there could be a case made for investing in newer, cleaner technologies such as Hydrogen Production and Fuel cells, Sustainable fuels, Carbon Capture, Battery Recycling and Power Generation. Being ahead of the curve on developing and introducing these technologies worldwide could give the UK significant advantages and opportunities. But is giving up Gas boilers and Diesel cars a case of putting the cart before the horse at this point? I think so. In the case of Cars, while there is more and more tax being put on those vehicles with internal combustion engines with “clean air zones” and the ULEZ zone in London, alternatives are not yet economically viable for many, nor are the vehicles practical for many. As yet we don’t have the charging infrastructure, power generation capacity or recycling facilities to deal with EV’s either! Speaking of Hypocrisy, while Sadiq Kahn introduces ULEZ, a £12.50 charge for non-compliant vehicles, he himself is Chauffeured around in a 5 litre Range Rover paid for by the taxpayer!
Are CO2 emissions alone a practical way of measuring how clean or green a country is anyway? What about the environmental impact of all the cobalt being mined to produce all those EV batteries? Are the children in the Congo being used as slave labour to mine it a necessary sacrifice to a greener economy, or is it just OK because it’s not our kids on our doorstep? How do we recycle the batteries that have an unfortunate habit of exploding if dismantled incorrectly, and how much energy will it take to recycle them? How about wind turbine blades that can’t be recycled and so are dumped into landfill, is it right to swap one environmental problem for another? Stepping away from Carbon, there’s even a new plastic crisis, forget your drinks straws and pop bottles, what happens to your single-use face mask when you’re done with it? There are so many other impacts to consider yet all we hear is Net Zero as if that’s all that matters. None of these other issues seem to factor into the metrics and in my opinion that just gives a dishonest picture of how clean any given society is.
Again, with Heat Pumps v Gas boilers there is dishonesty in how the two balance. While claims heat pumps are 3-4x more efficient than gas boilers, which is best case. As temperature drops so does that efficiency comparison, whereas the efficiency of a Gas boiler is not affected by how cold it is outside. Even at best case efficiency the Electricity used to run a heat pump is 3-4x more expensive than Gas, at worst case it’s so cold a heat pump cannot take heat out of the outside air. The bottom line is that when you need your heating the most, Gas is currently a cheaper and more reliable way to heat your home by far. And when we have many people in the country that struggle to pay their heating bill as it is, is it right that we insist they pay more than they can afford to stay warm? The newest grant for heat pumps is a tiny carrot, compared to the big stick that I fear will come down the line, of additional levies on gas. Rather than make electricity cheaper I fear there will be a push to make Gas more expensive and unattractive, much like we are starting to see with vehicles.
So which direction should we go with all this? Certainly, most people are happy and even desire to “go green”. There is a lot of recognition for a cleaner environment leading to a healthier, happier lifestyle. The question becomes one of cost v benefit. As things stand at the moment, we aren’t being honest about the costs, and only the positive benefits are being discussed. We need way more honesty if we are going to address this issue in a sensible and practical way. The virtue signaling and hypocrisy needs to stop, and we need to stop turning a blind eye to effects caused by us that manifest themselves in other parts of the world. This culture of tunnel vision that focuses solely on CO2 emissions needs to stop, and we need to look at the wider impacts to society and the environment. If we do not start being honest about all this, either Net Zero won’t happen (sure you might be able to fudge the numbers, but in real terms it just won’t) or it will be a disaster that pushes many people into poverty.
We need an energy supply that is secure, sustainable and cost-effective. That means generating all of our own power, not relying on interconnects fed by the continent that can be cut the next time France spit’s its dummy out, or gas piped in from Russia who aren’t exactly the most reliable of bedfellows. Strategic industries must be protected or unfriendly governments can and will take advantage at some point. We need to make sure technological developments are sustainable too, it would be naive to think we could be entirely self-sufficient, but security of supply must be a primary consideration in terms of raw materials. Above all else we need to be realistic about the costs and benefits, no matter what the UK does to further reduce it’s CO2 emissions, it won’t matter in the grand scheme of things if other countries continue to spew pollutants into the atmosphere, what we do or do not do at this point is a drop in the ocean.
I hope this short article raises more questions than it answers, that’s the idea, because we all need to explore them. Whether it’s climate change, or the cost of going green, it’s going to affect us all and future generations. We owe it to ourselves and our children to make the right decisions, and we can only do that if we make those decisions for the right reasons. That means considering all the factors, not just what might make a good headline, or look good. It means balancing the positive and the negative. Cop26 should be an opportunity to do just that, sadly I expect it will not be, and will just be another opportunity for world leaders to signal their virtue while the rest of us are left to wonder how we are going to cope with the huge changes to life and costs that these green policies will bring.
https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by-country
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779