The UK’s Net Zero agenda is making families poorer by driving the productivity crisis and squeezing living standards, economists have said.
This shocking revelation features in a story in the Mail. Investment bank Peel Hunt commissioned a report in order to find out if there was a link between decarbonisation and Britain’s collapsing productivity:
They found a “clear link” between falling energy capacity and weak productivity in the UK, which has “hurt economic performance and growth in living standards”.
A decline in UK electricity supply, which began in 2006, coincided with the start of structural weakness in productivity growth, the research added.
The economists said their analysis challenges the Government’s claim that there is no trade-off between Net Zero and economic growth.
Prior to winning last year’s General Election, Labour pledged to decarbonise the UK’s electricity grid by 2030 as part of accelerating Net Zero efforts.
Since entering Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer has lifted a de facto ban on onshore wind farms in England and given consent for a slew of solar projects.
The PM has hailed Net Zero as “one of the economic opportunities” of this century, while business chiefs recently pointed to an £83 billion boost from the sector last year.
But the Tories have said the UK’s Net Zero target “leaves us economically worse off” and admitted putting the 2050 deadline into law was among “mistakes” they made when in power.
The report’s damning verdict was:
The result of the UK’s decarbonisation efforts, so far, appears to be weak economic growth, high energy prices, de-industrialisation and no significant impact on the overall trajectory of global emissions.
If an economy throttles its production of energy, it impairs its capacity to produce all types of goods and services. Productivity is the major driver of per capita GDP.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. If you’re in your 20s or 30s there’s something to look forward to (at least while the sun is shining and the wind is blowing):
“If the Government can stay on track with plans to build new renewable capacities, electricity supplies can rise sharply,” they added – although they warned new technology such as Artificial Intelligence would ramp up energy demands.
But that’s hardly what the Confederation of British Industry came out with:
The report contrasts with a recent analysis by the Confederation of British Industry that suggested the Net Zero sector in the UK has become a “powerhouse of job creation and economic expansion”.
But as the Daily Sceptic’s Chris Morrison points out, Net Zero is facing global collapse, while in the Telegraph Nick Timothy says Net Zero is a luxury we can no longer afford:
Decarbonisation in one country – or more accurately one continent – is only possible in a globalised economy. Britain has managed to reduce its carbon emissions at least in significant part by shedding its domestic industries and importing goods instead. This is obviously a pointless exercise, as global emissions increase when goods are manufactured in countries with dirtier energy sources and poorer environmental standards, and when the goods must be transported around the world.
The reality of decarbonisation – that as long as the policy runs faster than technology allows, and other countries do not follow our lead – is that it means deindustrialisation, with all the consequences that follow. The country is less resilient to shocks, supply chains are stretched and we are exposed to instability in other parts of the world.
The Mail‘s piece is worth reading in full.
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There is talk that Miliband is on his way out. Perhaps Starmer has finally got the message. But I’m not holding my breath.
I’ll only rejoice if the Net Zero targets go out with him.
Definitely.
Milliband may be on the way out and for the simple reason that he is not likeable. I doubt even the eco zealots consider Millibrain a persuasive front man for their scam and therfore completely incapable of selling the nonsense. Once he has received the order of the boot I am sure Kneel will install a far more charismatic personality to convince us all of the benefits of freezing our tits off for the benefit of Gaia.
Or perhaps not.
Sadly, you’re probably right.
Thanks 👍
You, and others, whom I don’t always agree with, make this site worth visiting; intelligent, acerbic, controversial and thoughtful contributions.
Maybe the bloke from the Climate Party, a slippery but charismatic man a bit like the Blair Demon.
MiIllitwat is a brainless imbicile who patronises the UK population as though we’re 5 year olds. Perhaps we can return the comment, a quiet room in Pentonville, with a potty.
The scam might now be dead since Trump is back and is exposing the pseudo scientific fraud for what it is. —–Once Europe and the UK get hit with those huge US tariffs their phony planet saving will get reviewed double quick and they will have to start living in the real world rather than the pretend to save the planet phony one.
Economists’ specialist subject the b. obvious.
As for Mr Timothy, six years too late – as another of Mrs Maybee’s sidekicks, should have been pointing out the perils of decarbonisation in 2019, when Mrs Maybee’s feeble-minded government committed the folly of backing Net Zero to the hilt.
“Economists”
Lol. Who could have guessed that having some of the highest prices in the world for the key input of energy would harm an economy? When do I collect my Nobel Prize?
“Net Zero to Blame for UK’s Productivity Crisis and Making Families Poorer, Say Economists”
Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs! I didn’t realise I was an economist.
They don’t want you living or thriving. I had never heard this term ‘decarbonisation’ before reading this article but that any living entity could talk in those terms is disturbing. What they actually mean is closing down resources in order to bring about their Elysian dream. Just enough mind dead proles left alive to keep things ticking over. It is completely blatant in England the way the ruling class perceive the working class. Hatred, disgust, fear, contempt – the very way they talk makes this obvious. Like Emily Thornberry and white van man.
Prosperity is directly tied to availability and price of energy. NET ZERO adds enormously to the cost of energy so it is obvious that prosperity MUST go down, and that is exactly what is happening. The idiot politicians like Miliband in the pockets of the UN and WEF can harp on about energy security and creating Green jobs all they like but the real world tells a different story. But most people will be unaware that reducing prosperity is the whole idea of Net Zero. “Saving the Planet” is simply the plausible excuse for it. ——Or as Maurice Strong, General secretary of the UN in 1992 said—- “Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, air conditioning (and presumably central heating) and suburban housing are not sustainable”——-It isn’t about the climate. It is about wealth and resources, and the tragic thing is that our own UN parasite Political Class, led from the front by the buffoon Miliband, are all in on this eco communist scam.
Nick Timothy specialist subject – THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS.
No, that’s his Minor subject. His Major is “Wise after the Event.”
The MSM has obviously been given permission to very slowly start giving the counter-Net Zero message ….. to soften-up the apathetic British public who just go along with the lunacy for a change in policy. It won’t happen overnight, but the Net Zero SCAM is going to be slowly “modified” ….. ie scrapped.
Do you reckon something along the lines of: “The UK currently faces unusual challenges due to international tensions and the extent of the damage done to the economy by the chaos of the last Conservative administration. The Government therefore feels it would be prudent to allow more time to reach some of its net zero targets, although it remains committed to turning the UK into a green economy, bringing new jobs, prosperity and economic growth.” Something like that?