21 February 2025

Conservatives turn on Net Zero

The headlines

UK

• Conservatives turn on Net Zero

• Parliamentary heat pump pause

• Conflicts of interest in the grid agenda

• Union warns of job losses

• Blair bashes greenery

• BESS in flames

International

• Bigger benefits of carbon dioxide

• German manufacturing job losses

• US to abandon IPCC

• New Hampshire to abandon offshore wind

Etcetera

• ARC Conference: Net Zero ‘a sinister tool’

• Ejecting Elon?

• Heat pumps admission

• Nikola bust

From the blog

• How can we get back to cheap electricity?

UK

Conservatives turn on Net Zero

In what appeared to be a decisive turn against the decarbonisation agenda, Kemi Badenoch said that Net Zero had been a mistake. Two days later, the acting Shadow Secretary of State, Andrew Bowie, echoed her sentiments in an interview with Politico. Green Tories rent their clothes in dismay.

Parliamentary heat pump pause

It was revealed that the roll out of heat pumps across the Parliamentary Estate has been on hold since 2022, as concerns were raised about noise levels and the adequacy of power supplies.

Conflicts of interest in the grid agenda

Green activists are currently campaigning hard for local pricing on the grid. It appears that these moves may not be entirely selfless. Indeed, there is something of a tangled web in play.

Union warns of job losses

The Unite union warned that thousands of jobs in the automotive sector are under threat, as the decarbonisation agenda continues.

Blair bashes greenery

The Tony Blair Institute poured cold water on Ed Miliband’s claims of a green industrial revolution.

BESS in flames

A battery energy storage site in Essex burst into flames. Firefighters were forced to let it burn itself out. The Reform party, much criticised for their opposition to such facilities last week, made hay.

International

Bigger benefits of carbon dioxide

A new paper found that the Biden administration’s efforts to raise estimates of the harms of carbon dioxide were based in part on a dodgy dataset. Contrary to the original claim, crop yields should increase up to warming of 5ºC.

German manufacturing job losses

It was reported that Germany has lost a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs since the start of Covid, suggesting that the energy transition is causing irreparable damage to the country’s economy.

US to abandon IPCC

It was reported that President Trump has withdrawn the US from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

New Hampshire to abandon offshore wind

The state of New Hampshire announced a new energy policy that entirely eschewed offshore wind.

Etcetera…

ARC Conference: Net Zero ‘a sinister tool’

There was much discussion of Net Zero at the ARC conference in London. The new US Energy Secretary Chris Wright described it as ‘a sinister tool to shrink human freedom’. Sir Paul Marshall said it was wrecking the economy. Nigel Farage described it as ‘an absolute disaster’.

Ejecting Elon?

A group of activist scientists urged the Royal Society to throw out Elon Musk, a fellow since 2018, apparently upset that he has uncovered large-scale financial irregularities in the US central bureaucracy.

Heat pumps admission

The boss of a heat pump installation firm said that the technology would never be cheaper than gas boilers.

Nikola bust

Nikola Corp, a US manufacturer of electric HGVs, filed for protection from its creditors, becoming the latest in a series of EV companies to go bust.

From the blog

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