Trump will expose the conceit at the heart of Ed
Miliband’s green crusade.
America’s inevitable turn away from its climate commitments will pave the way for Britain.
Annabel DenhamColumnist and Deputy Comment Editor
10 November 2024 6:00am GMT
It’s been a rollercoaster week for the eco-zealots. The Cop29 climate jamboree, the highlight of their calendar year, is just around the corner. And the official review into Ed Miliband’s plans to decarbonise electricity by 2030 last Tuesday warned we’ll need to quadruple our “flexibility” to meet that target, a conclusion that will have been warmly welcomed by those who believe the only way to “go green” is to deprive ourselves of basic modern comforts.
“Flexibility” is a euphemism, of course. What they really mean is something closer to “wartime rationing”, imposed through a mix of moral blackmail and higher bills. It’s exactly what the green fanatics want. Fixing the climate seems to come second to controlling the behaviour of others, hence the vociferous opposition to cleaner energy sources which would provide both security and abundance.
UK could still miss net zero target
CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions per year (Megatonnes)
800
Past
emissions
50
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, CCC
These activists are not short of allies in government. “Fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security, or indeed the affordability, we need,” Mr Miliband intoned recently, even though seeking to eradicate them from our electricity generation within six years threatens both. Around 40pc of the UK’s electricity is currently produced with gas that will need to be imported.
But then came the setback. On the same day that the National Energy System Operator published its analysis, America went to the polls. In Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the eco-establishment had perhaps their greatest net zero allies. Biden’s $1 trillion (£770bn) Inflation Reduction Act was nothing more than a big green giveaway, with the president himself admitting it had “less to do with reducing inflation than dealing with providing alternatives that generate economic growth”.
And Kamala would’ve taken it further: she wanted to ban fracking, and was so in favour of the Green New Deal when she signed up to be a co-sponsor of it that she was willing to kill a senate filibuster to see it enacted.
Instead, the man who wants to quit the Paris Agreement and once called efforts to boost green energy a “scam” has clinched the popular vote.
“THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL CLIMATE DENIER IS BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE,” howled Friends of the Earth, though I don’t recall Donald Trump ever denying the existence of a climate. “The world feels a whole lot more terrifying this morning… [we] will try even harder to light candles rather than curse the darkness,” tweeted Caroline Lucas, though presumably we’ll all be lighting candles when Mr Miliband has made us completely dependent on renewables.
No wonder some green activists are “heartbroken”: Mr Trump could be about to expose the conceit at the heart of their crusade. For years we have been fed the myth that the only way for our advanced economy to mitigate climate change is with more austere lifestyles. “Cut back, you don’t really need all the trappings of modernity anyway “, is their message.
“Leading the world on climate change is the right thing to do,” the grandstanding navel-gazers proclaim, even though no one is following. Now we could be about to see that narrative set against an agenda of abundance, one which puts faith in capitalism and technological innovation to lead the low carbon transition.
This contrast comes at a critical juncture. Most eco policies to date have been happening behind the scenes – climate taxes, regulations on businesses. But now they want to attack consumer choice in a way that will be fiercely resisted by ordinary people who don’t want to freeze on wintry nights or bathe in two inches of water.
Last month, the Climate Change Committee quango said our meat and dairy consumption would need to be halved by 2050 to meet net zero. Last week, the Institute For Fiscal Studies said green levies on energy bills would need to rise by an extra £120 per household to sustain Miliband’s agenda.
It’s not moral to legislate privations on the masses. It’s not honest to pretend the only way to reduce emissions is by ignoring economic and technological reality, and kneecapping what’s left of our manufacturing base. Our industrial energy prices are already more than double those of other developed nations. And it’s not reasonable to plough ahead with command-and-control targets, bans and regulations which will hit those on lowest incomes hardest.
Whatever your views on Donald Trump, a defeat for the green mob is a triumph for humanity.
Paying the bills and going green
Keeping bills down is a concern most of us have – find out whether you should fix your energy tariff.
Some households have no choice but to pay high charges; meet the tenants paying 86pc more for energy than the rest of London.
With net zero levies looming, get ahead of the hidden tax on your energy bills that could soar under Labour.
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband's crackdown on old and cold homes could come at an astronomical cost to landlords.
DT.
