Net zero bandwagon’s wheels are wobbling... As Bowen heads to another pointless Cop gabfest

Judith Sloan I 22 November 2024 I Spectator Australia

Are the wheels of the net zero bandwagon beginning to wobble? You might think that I am only posing this question because of the election of Donald Trump as 47th President of the United States.

His stated intention is to withdraw his country from the Paris Agreement – again – as well as actively promote the oil and gas sector in the US. ‘Drill, baby, drill’ is one of his favourite commands.

In fact, the whole net zero edifice was trembling well before Trump’s election. Of course, there are some countries that are still fully on board with the quest to achieve net zero emissions by 2050: in some cases, earlier. But the actions of countries are more informative than their declarations which, let’s face it, are cheap to make.

The commitments made by politicians to net zero by 2050 have always had the advantage of being many years into the future. They knew that they would be long gone well before that date. But international climate bureaucrats were onto this weakness, demanding five-year targets that were deemed to be consistent with the quest to restrict the rise in global temperatures to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius. (For the sake of argument, I’m ignoring the spuriously assumed correlation here.)

This is one of the games played at the annual United Nations climate talkfest, the Conference of Parties. Cop29 is currently being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, a small country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union. It is rich in oil and gas reserves – it’s what is called a petrostate. It was always a very strange choice for any Cop.

At each meeting, countries submit their nationally determined contribution – it’s akin to handing in your homework. This year, Sir Keir Starmer, newly elected UK Prime Minister, will be top of the class with climate activists given his declaration that his country will reduce emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 over a base of 2005, having achieved a carbon-neutral electricity grid by the end of the decade.

His accompanying words would fit in well at a high school debate with all those worthy sounding cliches. He has declared that, ‘We are restoring our role as a climate leader on the world stage.’ There’s that world stage again.

No one seems to have told Starmer that not a single person from the global A Team is bothering to turn up at Cop29. Biden, Xi, Trudeau, Macron, Putin, Modi, da Silva and Albanese are all too busy. German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, would have liked to attend, but his coalition government has now collapsed in part because of an intractable dispute between the coalition parties about green policies.

In other words, Starmer is looking like a complete goose. (Our Teals should take note.) Does he really want to take to the dance floor with Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister, the only other significant leader at Cop? (Speccie readers, calm down: I know some of you would love to dance with her.)

There are serious practical questions about Starmer’s commitments notwithstanding the strident backing of activist minister, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. But he’s not for turning – well, until the polls turn. Starmer is insistent that the UK will lead the world in climate policy even though the country only contributes around 1 per cent to global emissions.

The message from the UK government is one we have come to hear and question: the policy is good for consumers, good for the economy and good for the planet. There will be lower electricity prices because of the shift to renewable energy. A cut of ￡300 by 2030 was mentioned at one stage, although the government has now backed away from this pledge. (Does this remind you of anything?)

Starmer is going out of his way to stress that people won’t be forced to install expensive heat pumps or to purchase electric vehicles. He is also walking away from what is euphemistically called ‘demand-side flexibility’, which is a system of rationing electricity use at certain times through smart meters, which have effectively been foisted on UK households. (By smart, we should be clear: smart for the energy providers, dud for the consumers.)

The trouble for Starmer is that the energy/climate experts tell him that his target of 81 per cent has no hope of being achieved unless he enforces these unpopular measures. Of course, any actions by the UK won’t make any difference to global emissions and it’s not even clear that any other country will be taking much notice – apart from Australia, perhaps. When will these politicians ever learn?

In the meantime, most other countries are heading in other directions as global emissions continue to rise. Coal consumption in India, one of the largest emitters, will rise by nearly 5 per cent this year. In Canada, the Trudeau government looks doomed and the opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, has pledged to abolish the consumer carbon levy on consumers and small businesses that has applied for the past five years.

Germany is an interesting case study – of what not to do. Its Energiewende policy has been extraordinarily expensive, leading to an economic calamity: there has been no net growth in the German economy since 2019. The country is now in its second year of recession and large-scale manufacturing plants are contracting, closing or relocating.

Volkswagen has recently announced its intention to close three plants in Germany – it has ten in total – as sales of electric vehicles stall and the high cost of energy undermines the competitiveness of manufacturing in Germany. This is a huge story, in part because of the central role that the automotive industry plays in the German economy but also because the workers were effectively guaranteed lifetime employment.

And to think B1, our own Chris Bowen, is bothering to attend Cop29 with an aim of securing Cop31 for Australia. He will also be supporting the United Nation’s campaign to extract close to $2 trillion per year from rich countries to spray around on climate initiatives for poorer ones.

Has he finally jumped the shark? Does he not understand that the wobbling wheels on the net zero wagon – OK, some are falling off – plus the election of the Trumpster mean that he is now on board a losing strategy? Does he not realise that these annual gabfests are not about the climate but about trying to extract some loot from naive punters like Australia?

The only highlight – that should really be lowlight – is the increasingly deranged Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, making ridiculously shrill and absurd opening remarks. Forget global boiling, it’s now about a ‘ticking clock’.

Evidently, we are ‘in the final countdown to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. And time is not on our side. This is a story of avoidable injustice: the rich cause the problem, the poor pay the highest price. Unless emissions plummet and adaptation soars, every economy will face far greater fury’.

Who writes this piffle? But you have been warned, or not, by a washed-up former socialist politician.

Author: Judith Sloan