There are clear reasons for the UK, which produces just 1% of global CO2 emissions, to pedal slowly to Net Zero. But with most scientists supporting AGW it is not realistic to expect governments to abandon it altogether.
The global warming pause is now 90 months long. In fact, a small cooling movement is now discernible, since the trend measured over the last 90 months is minus-0.01°C, which equates to minus-0.14°C a century.
Last year, the Met Office classified three days of 25°C Cornish sunshine as a “heatwave”, claiming the move was necessary since such “extreme events” were more likely because of climate change.
Like the predictions of the progress of Covid, we need to ask what the limitations are to climate modelling. Too easily the model output is given the status of truth, and quickly becomes unchallengeable.
Much of the media breathlessly reported "unprecedented heatwaves" at both of Earth's poles last week and another mass coral bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef. But dig down and you find the truth is very different.
Abrupt changes in global temperatures are commonplace. Movements as high as 5-10°C have been recorded over periods of just a few years, and these compare with the 1.1°C warming in 150 years seen today.
Always keen to stay one step ahead of the English, Nicola Sturgeon has set the Scottish Net Zero target at 2045, five years ahead of England's. But her catastrophism is based on make-believe data.
No matter what climate change scares have been debunked, the movement goes from strength to strength – resembling religious movements where disappointment leads to greater fervour. But will it eventually collapse?
It's clear that the citizenry has no idea of the scale of the task to achieve Net Zero in 30 years – estimated at £100,000 per household, £450,000 if developed nations have to pay for the rest of the world as well.
The BBC’s long-serving Environment Analyst Roger Harrabin is due to retire in June. What must his thoughts be as he contemplates the possible destruction of his cherished Net Zero fantasy?
