In the midst of all the Tory battles over carbon targets, Tony Blair has thrown something of a curveball, questioning the efficacy of Britain’s carbon-cutting focus. As China’s emissions surge, he suggests leveraging the U.K.’s financial strengths to aid the global energy transition instead. The Telegraph has more.
Rishi Sunak might not have expected Sir Tony Blair to emerge as a Net Zero sceptic. …
“It’s the single biggest global challenge, right, and Britain should play its part in that. But its part frankly is going to be less to do with Britain’s emissions. I mean, one year’s rise in China’s emissions would outscore the whole of Britain’s emissions for a year,” the former Labour leader said in a magazine interview.
He said “it shouldn’t be” an excuse to slack off on cutting emissions, but added that cutting our own carbon should not be the main focus:
“Don’t ask us to do a huge amount when frankly whatever we do in Britain is not really going to impact climate change,” he said. …
Instead, he suggests Britain should play to its economic strengths: finance.
As an alternative to the current row over who should pay what and how much heat pumps cost, it might seem refreshing to have a suggestion that we can sell something to the rest of the world.
It also differs from suggestions the U.K. should try to outcompete the U.S. and EU in throwing massive subsidies at building green industries in an effort to catch up with China’s head start.
“The number one issue today – and this is where Britain could play a part – is how do you finance the energy transition?” he asked.
“Because, basically, the developed world’s emissions are going down, but the developing world’s are going up. These countries have got to grow, so how do you finance the transition? Secondly, how do you accelerate the technology?”
When it comes to Britain’s potential advantages in greening the world economy, climate specialists suspect the U.K.’s financial edge could be valuable, but only alongside pressure to cut emissions further.
“We have all of these comparative advantages here, and we are kind of frittering them away a bit,” says Laurie Laybourn, an environmental policy researcher.
“The U.K. reducing its emissions, whether or not they are bigger or smaller than China, is a way of focusing our agenda on maximising those amazing capabilities we have in Britain, like our financial services, and that we are amazingly good at inventing things.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond says that successive British Prime Ministers haven’t levelled with the public about the £1 trillion cost of Net Zero.
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I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he is a war criminal.
And the downvoter seems to be an apologist for a war criminal… is that you Alistair?
Why don’t we have him put on trial somewhere – say The Hague – so he can prove his innocence? I’m sure he’d welcome the opportunity.
Well, it’s all well and good using developing countries to do our industrial pollution for us, but when the Western financial system is collapsing, inventing things for other countries to manufacture is what’s got us into this mess in the first place.
Doesn’t really matter.
He’s a warmongering sociopathic bastard who, if there’s any justice on this earth, ought to swing.
And that’s putting it mildly.
How many entirely innocent deaths has he caused? Oh, but it’s OK because it’s for the Greater Good.
Andt he’s revered by the Real PTB. I wonder why.
Says it all really.
I can only assume the downtickers wish a worse fate for him.
You’re missing the point though. ——-We know all of the things you said are true, but here we have the former leader of the Labour Party when the Climate Change Act (Miliband 2008) was passed into law, forcing us to reduce emissions of CO2 by 80% of 1990 levels. ——-Now he is saying whatever we do in the UK will NOT affect global climate. He must have known that in 2008 but the Climate Chage act went ahead anyway. ——-This tells us something very important. ——The Climate Change Act is NOT about the Climate, and neither is its amendment in 2019 “Net Zero”. ——–So Blair is a war criminal can be debated another time and place, but his remarks about reducing our emissions the other day are relevant in the context of this pretend to save the planet agenda that is impoverishing the UK for no good reason.
I take your point.
I must confess that I didn’t read the article properly because the red mist appears whenever I see or hear anything to do with him.. I do take issue with you though whereby you say that whether or not he’s a war criminal can be debated another day. There’s no debate to be had.
And I go back to the days when he appeared in a gleaming white shirt in Iraq to praise our brave boys whilst amongst them.
I know one or two soldiers who were there at the time. It may be of interest to some that the powers that be for the photoshoot demanded that all our brave boys had to be unarmed, and I also know that more than a few would have shot the bastard given half a chance.
No wonder the taxpayer has to spend millions a year on security for him.
If Bliar is advocating rowing back on the net zero lunacy he is up to something. Whatever his real purpose the health of Britain and its people is definitely NOT a consideration of this appalling POS.
Yep, exactly what I thought when I saw the article in the DM.
It would appear slimy Tony has gone back to what worked for him before. I was living in the UK when he got elected and the Tories at that time really were rotten to the core and needed to go. The first few years of the Blair cabinet he didn’t do bad – he saw what people were unhappy with and worked on it.
I am not singing his praises, merely pointing out that he was at that time an astute and able politician. A little too able, as in hindsight, after 2000, he was laying the groundwork to make the UK a vassal state of the EU empire, which he presumably saw himself leading at some point in time. A lot of the current problems can be traced back to him, helped along by a weak, apathetic Tory party (not unlike the current US Republican party – marginally better than the alternative, but not by much).
Over the past years he seemed to have lost that political acumen, always coming up with something completely against what the majority of people obviously wanted. This current u-turn looks to me like he realises you catch more flies with honey – perhaps he is gearing up to return to lead the Labour party, drawing people in with false promises of a return to climate reality. Perhaps a few years of reversing ULEZ and allowing gas boilers and petrol cars – then when people feel he’s on their side, wham – suckers the UK back into the EU, where everything will be reversed so fast your head will spin.
Beware of a Tony Blair bearing gifts.
Spot on Jane. I will post a more considered response shortly.
Jane, I don’t know what it is with you Dutch ex-pats but you have an uncanny ability to hit the nail on the head. Outsiders looking in perhaps?
I have to admit that I voted Labour when Bliar arrived on the scene because as you state the Tories at the time were rotten to the core, although compared to today’s grifters they were nearly saints. Bliar’s kiddology soon became apparent and so to did his complete disregard for human life, particularly in the Middle East.
Unquestionably Bliar was pushing for EU alignment and I believe he saw his next job after losing UK PM status as President of the EU. When this failed to materialise his thirst for vengeance against the people of this country became embedded, vicious, all-consuming and rampant. Now I suspect “he realises you catch more flies with honey” and so he is gaming people “with false promises of a return to climate reality.”
Perhaps he is planning a return to leading the Labour Party as his WEF handlers have obviously realised that Kneel is neither use nor ornament. Certainly promises to pull back on net zero would be a vote winner but without question the treasonous creep would stitch us to the EU in a heartbeat and at the same time go hell for leather with a WEF scripted net zero agenda.
Bliar is evil through and through and should never be believed. If he announced that today was Saturday the first thing I would do would be to check my calendar.
“Beware of a Tony Bliar bearing gifts.”
Too damn right.
Yes but cut to the chase———-Climate Change Act Miliband 2008) with Blair as Prime Minister. Now he says whatever we do won’t affect global climate. This is a180 degree U turn. It reveals that the politicised issue of climate is a total sham, incase you never knew that already . —But ofcourse you do know that.
By finance, I think he may mean our pensions. He has mooted merging our private pension funds into huge super funds to invest in the green revolution. And in the small print, it says that the unfunded pensions in the public sector may be able to join. Which sounds like private pensions subsidising the enormous unfunded public sector pension fund liabilities.
A renewable energy technology company has engaged him and is funding his institute.
I don’t know this to be true, but that’s my working assumption based on his comments.
Attention: We are 45 minutes away from a climate of mass destruction
How does it take the likes of Tony Blair to point out and get away with it that “whatever we do in Britain will not impact climate change”? If Trump or Farage or Mark Steyn had said that there would be spitting fury from the pretend to save the planet establishment, the Guardian, The Independent, the BBC, SKY, Just Stop Oil etc etc etc…….They would be slammed as “Climate Change Deniers”. So is Tony Blair also a Climate Change Denier, or will the BBC just sweep his remarks under the carpet and say “Hey it is just old Tony being a wee bit eccentric you know? ———-The way you protect the environment is by being wealthy. Wealthy and prosperous countries can afford to spend more on environmental protection. The only way poor countries can develop their economies is by using the very same fuels as the western world used ——-Coal Oil and Gas. When you are trying to live on a dollar a day and are burning dung in a hut for cooking and heating, the last thing on your mind is global warming. You don’t walk 2 miles with a heavy water bottle on your back to your hut wondering how you can reduce your carbon footprint. There risks to all energy production but 90 % of the worlds energy comes from fossil fuels and the UK stopping doing that in some kind of self flagellating eco posturing endeavour will, as Tony Blair rightly points out have no effect on global climate. So why are we doing it? ————-Because it isn’t and NEVER was about the climate in the first place.
Blair double in dangerous policies ( & has such track record ) so he will have a secondary motive. Nothing he says is trustworthy & certainly NOT for the good of the public. I hazard a guess it could even be a PR Stunt for Starmer!
When Tony Blair first appeared in the 1980s my first thought was never trust smiling cat.
Appear sceptical about Net Zero until the next election then if Labour get in announce the Climate Boiling is even worse than we thought,