Helm Talks - energy climate infrastructure & more28 Nov 2023

The remarkable net zero political consensus – and why it's wrong

The political consensus about how the UK will achieve net zero by 2035 is remarkable, centred as it on the assumption that consumer bills must not go up and that instead we will need to borrow from the private sector – from foreigners and future generations. This is built on the further premise that it will all be cheap, and that renewables are a lot cheaper than fossil fuels. But just because it is a consensus does not mean that it is right. The fundamental reality is that we are living beyond our sustainable means, and if we continue to do so, then we will reap the consequences. As set out in my new book, Legacy: How to Build the Sustainable Economy ( https://shorturl.at/fTW57 ) we need to understand what the sustainable economy actually looks like. It doesn’t mean no economic growth (information technology and genetics will play a big part in that growth), but it will not be achieved by simply thinking that it will come from building more houses and wind turbines. We need to undertake the capital maintenance and look after our existing assets. The political consensus will not deliver the fundamental transition needed to address climate change. Listen to my podcast to understand the consequences of what will happen if we continue along the current path of selfish living beyond our means…

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(90)

Why can't we build infrastructure in this country?

Politicians have been seeking for decades to put right the infrastructure crisis in this country that is rooted not in a lack of ambition, but in deeper economic and political constraints. Building in...

15 Jun 15min

Crisis? What crisis?

The International Energy Agency describes the current Iran conflict as the “biggest energy crisis in history”. While oil prices have risen sharply, they remain below the real highs of past shocks. How...

27 Mai 14min

Britain's negative-sum society

The concept of a zero-sum game was fashionable in the 1970s. The idea was simple: competing interest groups, and especially unions, would fight for ever-bigger shares of the nation’s cake, and their g...

17 Mai 14min

No such thing as free electricity

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there is no such thing as “free” electricity. What is true is that there are going to be days in summer when supply exceeds demands and hence the value of e...

24 Apr 11min

Sticky plaster energy policy is falling apart

Another day and another bit of sticky plaster is applied. With the highest industrial energy prices in the developed world, the government is increasing the number of companies that will get a bit off...

20 Apr 15min

Gas prices, gas mistakes and gas policy

The news is very much about gas price shocks, but this is to misunderstand the fundamental difference between temporary shocks and long-term trends. Gas prices spike when major geopolitical events occ...

24 Mar 13min

Britain's industrial energy price crisis

Britain is facing a deep industrial energy price crisis, with many major industries collapsing or shrinking because UK electricity costs are among the highest in the world. Recent closures—from refine...

17 Mar 15min

The energy security gap

The International Energy Agency, at its recent ministerial meeting (Feb 18th/19th), agreed on one top priority: energy security. Hybrid warfare, cyber-attacks and the ease with which modern energy inf...

24 Feb 15min