Climate Action for Associations’ Post

Man who locked down the entire British population for Covid has the perfect background for locking down the entire British economy.

Sadly, your comments have been distorted by nay-sayers. 1% global emissions? Its not just that 1% carbon dioxide as an emission, it’s more complex than that — and harder for ignorant folks to understand. How much more complex? Not much. That tiny amount of CO2, blocks heat from leaving the planet. It doesn’t block it coming from the sun, just its return to outer space. Are you with me so far? If the heat can’t get out, it gets hotter and hotter. We call it the “greenhouse effect”, because the glass in a greenhouse roof lets sunlight in but doesn’t let it out — and the greenhouse gets hot. There’s more. Troglodytes, new earthers and flat earthers have suggested a replacement: natural gas(NG). NG is not only a greenhouse (global warming) gas but it is 60 times worse than CO2 at warming the planet. Fracking (hydraulic fracturing of oil bearing rock) releases NG. But it leaks. Bummer.

>> The Labour Party will create Great British Energy, a new, publicly-owned clean energy company. We will harness Britain’s sun, wind and wave energy << Oh no! Please no! Where is the mention of nuclear power? Without that, there is no hope of getting anywhere near net zero, 2030 of otherwise? Wave energy? Is there anywhere in the world where that is working? Without nuclear power there is no hope of meeting net zero by 2030 or otherwise.

But we need to sort water and transport services as well with the same degree of urgency. A systemic mission for Infrastructure services is vital and overdue.

It really does feel like the end of an era of repression in the UK today. The 'nasty party' and the even nastier party (if you didn't think there was one, meet Reform) are still in the background, but there is real hope now. Not least because of the quadrupling of Green MPs.

Remember, Net Zero is forever, not just for 2050. As the South West Infrastructure Partnership (SWIP)'s Net Zero progress diagnosis has shown since 2020, Policy, Legislation, Regulation, and Standards need to be joined up, coherent, ahead of the game, and stable into the long term, but they aren't. As these factors frame action, and the development of the new decarbonisation marketplace in which everyone will trade, their current disjointed form is a crucial barrier to rapid progress. We need the new government do this high level joining-up urgently so that the rest of the value chain can get on with decarbonisation without their hands tied behind their backs.

Stopping the use of fossil fuels and depending solely on wind and solar will lead inevitably to MORE energy insecurity, not less, and HIGHER cost, not lower.

Successive UK governments failed to understand business development. They confused AI and high technology which is needed, with the kind of day to day skills that are foundational for any development or construction and taken for granted. What happened to apprenticeships ? Whose going to build data centers? Who is going to build all the green energy infrastructure? Will the country be more exposed by energy dependence on others? The Big Green industry support from Labour will most likely still leave UK citizens struggling to find a job paying more than a few pounds above minimum wage.. Hope I’m wrong The government can’t even, as only one example, ask MG (China is owned zero UK manufacturing) to build UK market models they sell a lot of, in UK. Yet Jaguar/Rover gained additional China market access via a JV with a Chinese manufacturer.. Honda closed its huge operation in Swindon and government did nothing.

The UK is toast. They will fry their economy for no good. Because the US, China, Africa and India are not going to cut back. Parts of the rest of Europe will not cut back either. Too politically risky. So, the UK will slit its own throat economically, while their people watch other countries charge on ahead and they suffer, as they realize their sacrifice made no difference because all the big players kept doing what they had been doing. THAT will eventually lead to a strong man populist and a major backlash. Have you missed what has been happening across Europe in Germany, France, Italy, Hungary? Think there are no farmers to protest in the UK?

The experts are back in the room, which is great. The last 14 years has seen an increasingly ridiculous tendency by conservative culture warriors to mock and attack expertise - climate scientists, immunologists, even thermodynamics - when it tells those in power things they don’t want to hear. It’s really ok to have different values, but that should never be a basis for overturning the facts. I drew this picture to illustrate the interplay between evidence and values. Too often, the right deny the evidence because its perceived as undermining their values (eg free markets can solve any problem without need for regulatory constraint).