14 June 2024

From the director

Dear readers, donors and subscribers

Our normal work is currently on something of a hiatus, with media attention focused entirely on the election. But it’s fair to say we have some big stories in the offing, which you will see in the summer. In the meantime we are reacting as best we can to the issues of the campaign, although much of it is frippery (and much of the rest is worse).

Still, the election campaign has at least now been stirred up by the return of Nigel Farage. As we explained in a series of blog posts this week, the manifestos of the establishment parties are entirely delusional on the subject of energy policy. The rise in the polls of Reform – whose stance has thus far been against Net Zero (their manifesto is still awaited) – at least gives us cause for hope that things will eventually get better.

And perhaps even sooner rather than later. There is certainly a whiff of revolution in the air. Voices that have previously been silenced have been emboldened to speak up once again. Attempts to smear them into silence once again are now routinely failing to hit their mark. The contempt for the mainstream media outlets that are at the centre of such demonisation is palpable.

So change is in the air, and it is hard to say how things will pan out over the next three weeks, let alone the next three years. We will watch with interest.

Best wishes

Andrew

Andrew Montford is the director at Net Zero Watch. As always, please don’t reply to this email address, which is not monitored.

The headlines

UK elections

• Trades unions shun Labour greenery

• Manifestos for energy fantasy

Around the world

• Euro-right dismantles green policy

• Swiss ignore human rights ruling

• EU slaps tariffs on Chinese cars

• Climate scepticism from Aussie opposition

Energy

• Cost blows to energy storage plans

• Political uncertainty killing North Sea

Etcetera

• Tensions likely between Labour and newly sceptical EU

• Charlotte Gill on green waste

• Video of Farage’s critique of Net Zero

UK elections

Trades unions shun Labour greenery

Unite the Union refused to back the Labour manifesto, saying that the party’s Net Zero policies failed to protect workers. The GMB union, which had already distanced itself from the party’s policies, decided to call on Labour to tear them up, calling them “unviable”.

Keir Starmer pledged to reinstate the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars, a move that may prove a serious faux pas, given the European moves in the opposite direction.

Manifestos for energy fantasy

This week saw the release of the first of the party manifestos. They were largely underwhelming.

The LibDems were first out of the blocks. As Net Zero Watch, we laughed at the extensive, but entirely ridiculous energy plans it contained.

The Conservatives (again) offered up warm words to the sceptics, but business-as-usual for the Green Blob. We described it as a manifesto for national decline.

Nobody takes the Green Party manifesto seriously anyway, but suspicions of incompetence were certainly confirmed when the party accidentally proposed cutting fuel duty by 50%.

Labour’s effort came last, and was pretty spectacular: a fairy tale that managed to avoid any connection with the real world whatsoever.

The Reform manifesto is due next week, but it is said that it will pledge to scrap Net Zero entirely.

Around the world

Euro-right dismantles green policy

The European Parliament’s new conservative majority set about dismantling what David Cameron used to call ‘the green crap’, announcing plans to do away with the combustion engine ban. The Greens licked their wounds and tried to work out why wrecking everyone’s finances was proving so unpopular at the ballot box.

Swiss ignore human rights ruling

Having been told by the European Court of Human Rights that its decarbonisation plans were inadequate, the Swiss Parliament invited the court to take a running jump.

EU slaps tariffs on Chinese cars

The EU slapped tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars. European carmakers with factories in China will be hit hard. Beijing threatened to take them to the World Trade Organization.

Climate scepticism from Aussie opposition

Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton vowed to ditch climate targets.

Energy

Cost blows to energy storage plans

The idea that Net Zero is affordable has been based on extravagant assumptions about the falling costs of the technologies required. Such ideas look a little foolish when the cost of electrolysers (for making hydrogen for when the wind isn’t blowing) has gone up by 50%.

Meanwhile, ground was broken on a liquid-air energy storage facility in Manchester. This will take costly wind power and make it even more expensive.

Political uncertainty killing North Sea

Deltic, a major North Sea operator, announced that it will abandon its licence covering the major Pensacola field, because of political uncertainty.

Etcetera

At Conservative Home, Harry Phibbs contrasted the EU’s newfound pragmatism on Net Zero with Labour’s extremism on the issue and the Conservatives’ not-quite-so extremism.

Andrew Neil noted that an incoming Labour government in the UK is likely to be very uncomfortable with Europe’s new narrative of energy realism.

Charlotte Gill did an excellent Twitter thread analysing some of the public sector’s crazy green spending sprees.

Nigel Farage blasted Net Zero in one of the leadership debates.

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