The UK’s ‘net-zero economy’ is booming, that is according to the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) and the ECIU (Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit), which is fantastic news! Never mind the cost of living crisis, local councils going bankrupt, and the entire country generally ‘going to shit’ because the net zero economy is here to save the day.
So don’t worry if you’ve lost your job because your industry isn’t deemed ‘green’ enough, or you can’t afford to heat your house or feed your kids because there’s a much better, higher paid green job with your name on it. Apparently.
There’s only one problem — the UK’s constant indecision and recent backtracking on several major green policies poses a significant threat to this powerful new £74 billion industry.
The timing of such a claim is curious considering that what is happening globally seems to tell a very different story. Because whilst Rishi Sunak seems to be getting most of the flak for reneging on many of the Conservatives’ key green pledges, many other countries are doing exactly the same thing.
The EU it seems, have only just now figured out that their net zero policies don’t stand up to scrutiny and have hastily revised the rules so that petrol and diesel cars will still be allowed after 2035, providing they run on synthetic fuel. Meanwhile in Germany, the government was forced to water down its proposal to ban gas boilers after justified pushback and outrage from the public upon learning how much replacing them with a ‘greener’ alternative would cost.
And despite the USA’s commitment to invest heavily in green energy projects, the country’s oil and gas output has in fact more than doubled over the last decade. Whilst China, who are currently the undisputed leaders of the renewable energy market (accounting for 5.55 million of the world’s 13.7 million jobs), still generate 60% of the country’s electricity by burning coal.
So whilst the UK and Europe are busy making pie-in-the-sky promises and fantasising about a great green utopia that only exists in the imaginations of the severely deluded, China is busy dominating the clean energy marketplace, without compromising the energy security or living standards of its own people.
Of course, energy is cheaper in China, but the fact is that they are making progress where we are not. They are selling green technologies to the rest of the world, whilst our politicians are destroying the UK’s industrial base through impossible net zero targets and excessive regulation.
So, is it really any wonder that big corporations and major global investors are abandoning Europe and the UK and moving operations to China and the US, where they don’t get hammered by sky-high energy costs, carbon taxes and maddening bureaucracy.
Of course, investing in clean energy and green technology is an important and worthwhile goal. However, what the muppets in Westminster don’t seem to realise is that by legally committing the country to insane net zero targets at the expense of people’s jobs, global investment and energy security, we are essentially sacrificing not only the living standards of every citizen, but also any opportunity we have of competing in the global marketplace.
So if you believe that Britain is experiencing some kind of industrial boom all thanks to the wonders of the net zero economy, then you may as well believe in unicorns. Because the reality is that all across Europe and the UK, jobs in renewable energy are being cut and major corporations are either struggling or going bust. So, how can the actions, or inaction, of the UK government pose any kind of risk to something that doesn’t exist in the first place?
Perhaps the people who made these claims have been preaching from the great green gospel of misleading statistics, spurious claims and half-baked promises for so long that they’ve finally lost their minds. Because anyone who actually believes that crock of shit needs their head examining.