• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Success of Populist Insurgents in European Elections Could Spell Beginning of the End for Net Zero

by Toby Young
10 June 2024 9:00 AM

European Greens have warned that the Right-wing, populist parties who’ve done well in the European elections plan “to kill” environmentally-beneficial policies. The Telegraph has more.

Surging hard-Right parties are plotting to dismantle EU Net Zero laws after the European elections on Sunday, Green politicians have said.

Nationalist forces will overturn the bloc’s ambition to hit the 2050 zero carbon target in the same way they hardened European migration policy by dragging it to the Right, they said.

“For them, the next horizon, the next battle, is indeed to kill these green, woke policies,” said Philippe Lamberts, the Co-President of the European Greens.

“Osmosis” with traditional Right-wing parties was already weakening EU green laws, he said, and could impact on new bills and reviews of existing Net Zero legislation.

Green parties are predicted to shed 17 MEPs and drop from the fourth largest group in the European Parliament to the sixth just five years after their best ever results in 2019 following Greta Thunberg’s climate protests.

Anti-EU, and often climate sceptic, parties are predicted to perform strongly in the EU elections on Sunday.

Farmers’ tractor protests against green laws have paralysed Europe for months.

Mr. Lamberts said many traditional parties had supported Net Zero after the mass youth demonstrations but had now abandoned their support of it.

“There is a clear and present danger to the future of the European Green Deal,” the Belgian MEP told the Telegraph.

Eurosceptic parties are predicted to win in seven member states, including Italy and France, and come second or third in another 10 once the votes of about 370 million people across 27 countries are counted on Sunday.

Hard-Right leaders such as Geert Wilders want the Dutch to leave the Paris agreement on climate change, while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni described the EU as waging a “holy war” on green issues.

Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: Belgium’s liberal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has resigned following a significant defeat of his party, the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld), in the European elections.

BREAKING: Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander de Croo has resigned due to incredibly disappointing results in the EU elections. He's done. pic.twitter.com/Iz6EfanV3V

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 9, 2024
Tags: European ElectionsEuropean GreensNet Zero

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

The People’s Vaccine Inquiry Launches Today

Next Post

Man Responsible for World’s Longest Lockdown Given Australia’s Top Honour

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

63 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Andy A
Andy A
4 months ago

I presume the author is another one who really believes the nonsense of AGW.
The question gives it away ‘given that Britain is responsible for less than 1% of the planet’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, how much difference do you think it would make to global temperatures even if this country somehow achieved Net Zero tomorrow?’
FFS

Last edited 4 months ago by Andy A
17
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
4 months ago
Reply to  Andy A

“Global temperatures?”

What a load of carp.

9
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
4 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Indeed. I was thinking about this the other day. Our house is by no means huge, and it’s pretty open plan, internal doors always open. The heating comes on in every room, but there is only one thermostat. It’s definitely not the same temperature in every room, especially when the sun is shining.

9
0
Lockdown Sceptic
Lockdown Sceptic
4 months ago

They should ask: Do you want the entire British countryside smothered with solar panels and wind turbines entirely funded by your taxes?

Last edited 4 months ago by Lockdown Sceptic
23
0
Gezza England
Gezza England
4 months ago
Reply to  Lockdown Sceptic

It would be wise to add ‘and by a trebling of your electricity bills.’

19
0
robnicholson
robnicholson
4 months ago
Reply to  Gezza England

It’s when people are hit where it hurts, their wallet/purse, that opinions can rapidly change. I often get labelled as a conspiracy theorist (a badge I wear proudly) but I was asked openly at the weekend why electricity prices are so high. Fortunate that the Daily Sceptic had recently published an article on this very subject.

I said global energy prices rose due to unnecessary lockdowns and massive borrowing causing inflation. I said the UK is one of the highest because of our perfect storm of mad Net Zero plans with a little bit of Brexit thrown in.

For the first time since 2019, I got more nods of agreement than derision. It was helped that we were sat in a pub where the licensee overheard our conversation and brought her current energy bills which are crippling the hospitality industry.

1
0
David101
David101
4 months ago
Reply to  Lockdown Sceptic

And, “How do you feel about all our agriculture being demolished, all our food imported and our manufacturing base taken over by China?”

10
0
Art Simtotic
Art Simtotic
4 months ago

The rug needs pulling from under climate claptrap first. Needs Mr Farage to call it out for the con-trick it’s been for decades. All dependent on repealing the 2008 Climate Claptrap Act.

Then mount a campaign to Take Back Control of energy bills.

Last edited 4 months ago by Hardliner
20
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
4 months ago

I tend to agree that a lot of political capital could be made out of this, if the issue were to be presented in the right way.

16
0
GlassHalfFull
GlassHalfFull
4 months ago

If you brainwash the population for decades with bogus claims of a climate emergency it is no surprise they want something done to tackle it.
Just give them both sides of the argument and the public will soon see sense that there is no emergency and their taxes are being wasted.

22
-1
soundofreason
soundofreason
4 months ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

…they want something done to tackle it.

That’s a good point. They want something done… by someone else.

Ask them what they’re prepared to do themselves to achieve it. Turn off their heating and lights? Buy less new clothing? Eat less meat or more insects?

Show them items out of the UK FIRES reports like telling them to give up dairy foods and beef, lamb or pork or pushing the price of hydrocarbon fuel to extreme highs or building their houses out of rammed earth or that new steel should not be made.

13
0
robnicholson
robnicholson
4 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

One of my most left-leaning narrative consuming friend/couple was appalled by the FIRES report (right?) that air travel is to be curtailed to maybe one flight a year. They love their foreign holidays…

1
0
Gezza England
Gezza England
4 months ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Well in every poll that has raised the issue of money and what personal contribution people would be willing to make – as opposed to the extortion through taxes and increased costs – the answer is extremely little. Probably just due to incompetence which is about the only thing government and the snivel service excel at, the way that taxpayers cash is channelled to the unreliable suppliers of expensive energy is a maze of confusing methods that make it hard to easily explain to the masses how it really is not 9 times cheaper than gas generation and is many times more expensive.

10
0
Hardliner
Hardliner
4 months ago
Reply to  Gezza England

…and why do you think those methods are confusing? They are deliberately so, even to those of us familiar with the industry. And of course they were written by civil servants and their lawyers, both of whom are paid by the yard

9
0
Purpleone
Purpleone
4 months ago

Now is the time for Reform to lay out exactly what makes up an energy bill, how it’s changed over the years and the truth around subsidy ‘farming’ by renewables companies, supported by the Uniparty. Lay this out, as accurately as possible, and challenge the main parties directly to explain it / justify it or deny it… get on the front foot

15
0
robnicholson
robnicholson
4 months ago
Reply to  Purpleone

The recent DS article would be a good starting point but like COVID debates, the article is far too heavy on facts and needs to be pitched emotionally.

1
0
Purpleone
Purpleone
4 months ago
Reply to  robnicholson

Exactly – I’d go with a side by side graphic showing the % breakdown in 2008 vs now or similar – something pictorial… get it right any you don’t even need to have too much detail. You just want people to look at it, and think ‘hang on a minute, how f****** much?!?’…. They can then join the rest of the dots themselves

2
0
David101
David101
4 months ago

I’ll just throw this question out there: Who here believes that if “global average temperatures” started to drop on their own starting next week and continued to show a downward trend for a couple of years, would Net Zero be abandoned since obviously the world is cooling and it’s no longer necessary?

5
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
4 months ago
Reply to  David101

There is no such thing as “global average temperatures.” It’s an impossible.

6
0
RW
RW
4 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

It’s not really impossible because global average temperature can be easily calculated. But the result is a meaningless piece of mathematical fiction. Or rather, it’s just as meaningful for any particular place as a global average shoe size¹ would be meaningful for an individual person.

¹ Someone urgently needs to research if there’s a trend in global average shoe size and whether or not it correlates with trends in global average temperatures. Maybe, we really need to shrink feet instead of CO₂ emissions! [Sarcasm]

5
0
RW
RW
4 months ago
Reply to  RW

Addition: The area of this planet which is not covered by temperature measurment stations is so much larger than area covered by temperature measurement statements that the latter can sensibly regarded as non-existant. We don’t know anything about the temperature of the overwhelming number of places this planet. This implies that an average calculated from the preciously few locations on this planet where temperature is actually measured really doesn’t even include most of the relevant information.

It’s not only that the calculation is nonsense¹, we don’t even have the data for it to begin with.

¹ Also, canonical CO₂ levels of the atmosphere are measured in a single location of this planet, next to a giant volcano in Haway (Mauna Loa).

5
0
David101
David101
4 months ago
Reply to  RW

A very good point. A very over-generalized statistic like overall global average temperature is like trying to gauge room temperature by sticking a thermometer directly on top of a radiator (or in the fridge).

The international media does this nicely pertaining to weather events. It either ramps up or down the level of coverage of storms, droughts, wildfires and all the rest of it, depending on the level of Net Zero urgency they want to convey.

If and when (hopefully never, but hypothetically) Net Zero ever comes about, all they need to do is focus the public’s attention elsewhere and ease off on the climate scare stories… and then they can say “you see, Net Zero worked!”

2
0
Norfolk-Sceptic
Norfolk-Sceptic
4 months ago
Reply to  David101

You only have to remove a few weather stations with highish temperatures, and close down a few with lower temperatures and, hey presto, using inadequate statistical methods, global temperatures are raised.

2
0
Jack the dog
Jack the dog
4 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Well no of course there is, but it is a totally meaningless figure, being subject to a trillion variables.

Starting with the word average – is that the mean, medium or the mode? arithmetic or geometric? using data from ground stations or satellite data? comparing data series staring from when?

And given that most databases have been corrupted by senseless adjustments over the years what steps do you take to ensure the data is actually valid? UK data includes readings from weather stations that don’t actually exist. ANd quality of data, when putting the data together some is from high quality weather stations many in the UK at least are classified as junk. Therefore your average needs to include let’s say the 90% condfidence limits otherwise it is a meaningless exercise. A fiar amount of computing power required to do that for however many datasets you’re planning to use.

And that’s just the start I am not a statistician and this took me two minutes to write. There will be a thousand other things to take into account. Allowing for major volcanic erruptions for one thing.

So yes there may indeed theoretically be some sort of arithmetic average but like everyhting else in this voodoo science it is complete and utter garbage.

You simply cannot justify destroying our economy and indeed our entire way of life on the basis of it.

It is beyond insane, psycopathic even to suggest you can let alone the damage already wrought supposedly trying to do so.

Or is it simply a massive programme to rip off the plebs and enrich the favoured ones? Which is what it looks like more than anything else.

I think we should be told.

5
0
RW
RW
4 months ago
Reply to  Jack the dog

Averaging temperatures from different location is meaningless nonsense. The contrived example I keep using for this is: Let’s say a thermometer in the Sahara records 45⁰C and another in Antartica -50⁰C. This makes for an average of -2.5⁰C. But neither temperature in the Sahara nor temperature in Antartica is “on average, -2.5⁰C.”

3
0
Jack the dog
Jack the dog
4 months ago
Reply to  RW

Yes of course it is absolute nonsense.

Interesting your point about the measurement of CO2, I’d not heard that before, and your point about the vast areas of the globe whose temperatures go unmeasured at least by ground based stations is very valid.

3
0
JDee
JDee
4 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

So are you saying that the average global temperature is not lower in a full ice age, than when the earth is a hot house, because it’s somehow impossible? Both full ice ages and hot houses have happened in the past without any help from human activity, and must represent different overall average temperatures.

0
0
Heretic
Heretic
4 months ago
Reply to  David101

Instead of global average temperatures, you could ask about the evidence for unusually cold weather events happening all over the planet, as recorded by the Electroverse website. Even though it’s paywalled, we can learn a lot just by scrolling down the main page of brief headlines and photos on that site, which are never featured in the mainstream media:

Electroverse – Documenting Earth Changes During The Next Grand Solar Minimum

2
0
JXB
JXB
4 months ago

Net Zero, woke, EU rapprochement, immigration – legal and illegal, getting involved in foreign conflicts not our concern.

That’ll do for a start.

5
0
robnicholson
robnicholson
4 months ago
Reply to  JXB

Which isn’t far off much of the Reform manifesto at the election.

0
0
Norfolk-Sceptic
Norfolk-Sceptic
4 months ago

At least highlighting the futility and ‘wealth destruction’ of the NET Zero policies will allow Reform to distract voters’ interests away from the recent Lowe pressure, and the accompanying political storm.

3
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
4 months ago

There is no leader within this nonsense. It would take a particularly compassionate leader to deal with such misguided souls.

-1
-1
allanplaskett
allanplaskett
4 months ago

‘And, given that Britain is responsible for less than 1% of the planet’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, how much difference do you think it would make to global temperatures even if this country somehow achieved Net Zero tomorrow?’

The 1% figure here is badly misleading. 1% is perhaps true as the UK’s percentage of human emissions. But human emissions are barely 20% of total emissions. So, the UK’s percentage of total emissions is 0.2%.

Here’s the real question:

How much poorer are you willing to be to achieve net zero, given that China and India, with their rampant programs of coal-fired power station building, are both putting out more new CO2 every year than the UK’s entire annual output, and China and India are not bound by the Paris accords to even begin reductions till 2050?

1
0
Norfolk-Sceptic
Norfolk-Sceptic
4 months ago
Reply to  allanplaskett

Where are the measurements for judging success, like plotting a graph of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentrations against Time?
comment image

2
0
Myra
Myra
4 months ago

I wonder what keeps these politicians so out of touch with reality. They are well behind where the general public are.
Maybe a case for participatory democracy….

3
0
CircusSpot
CircusSpot
4 months ago
Reply to  Myra

Money the green scam is very lucrative.

3
0
Smudger
Smudger
4 months ago
Reply to  Myra

Party whips? You are cast out if you don’t take the whip.

1
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 49: The Persecution of Graham Linehan, Asylum Hotel Protests, “Colour-Blind” Casting and Veggie Authoritarianism

by Richard Eldred
5 September 2025
3

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

10 September 2025
by Toby Young

Brighton Council Ignores Van With Palestine Flag for Months – But Tows it Days After St George’s Flag Added

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

Jim Ratcliffe’s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

The Existential Crisis Facing Labour

9 September 2025
by Noah Carl

Shame on the Centrist Commentators Who Piled on ‘Sophie of Dundee’

36

Ukraine Must Lose The War, Then Win The Peace

97

Jim Ratcliffe’s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids

29

The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical

17

Labour Must Halt its War on Pubs

13

Shame on the Centrist Commentators Who Piled on ‘Sophie of Dundee’

10 September 2025
by Laurie Wastell

Octopus CEO Blames Miliband’s “Broken Energy System” for High Energy Costs – But Still Backs Renewables

10 September 2025
by Paul Homewood

What Has Gone Wrong With Books About How-Everything-Has-Gone-Wrong-and-What-To-Do-About-It And What To Do About Them

9 September 2025
by James Alexander

The Existential Crisis Facing Labour

9 September 2025
by Noah Carl

Lloyd’s of London Quits Net Zero

9 September 2025
by Ben Pile

POSTS BY DATE

June 2024
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« May   Jul »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

June 2024
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« May   Jul »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

10 September 2025
by Toby Young

Brighton Council Ignores Van With Palestine Flag for Months – But Tows it Days After St George’s Flag Added

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

Jim Ratcliffe’s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical

9 September 2025
by Will Jones

The Existential Crisis Facing Labour

9 September 2025
by Noah Carl

Shame on the Centrist Commentators Who Piled on ‘Sophie of Dundee’

36

Ukraine Must Lose The War, Then Win The Peace

97

Jim Ratcliffe’s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids

29

The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical

17

Labour Must Halt its War on Pubs

13

Shame on the Centrist Commentators Who Piled on ‘Sophie of Dundee’

10 September 2025
by Laurie Wastell

Octopus CEO Blames Miliband’s “Broken Energy System” for High Energy Costs – But Still Backs Renewables

10 September 2025
by Paul Homewood

What Has Gone Wrong With Books About How-Everything-Has-Gone-Wrong-and-What-To-Do-About-It And What To Do About Them

9 September 2025
by James Alexander

The Existential Crisis Facing Labour

9 September 2025
by Noah Carl

Lloyd’s of London Quits Net Zero

9 September 2025
by Ben Pile

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences