Labour anger ‘palpable’ after Tony Blair’s intervention on government climate strategy – UK politics live
The former prime minister called on the government to change course on climate changeAnd here is some more comment on Tony Blair’s net zero comments from environmentalists and commentatorsFrom Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor, on Bluesky“We need to depoliticise the climate debate” says that Tony Blair report ....... the main impact of which has been to deepen the right wing culture war against net zero by describing the climate debate as “hysteria”Tony Blair is literally being paid by a man with one of the highest carbon footprints on the planet - Larry Ellison. The founder of Oracle is his biggest funder & these techsolutionist remarks have to be seen for what they are: tech lobbyingTony Blair Institute have released a report which is getting a lot of coverage in UK todayIt says the drive for net zero emissions is flawed and some media outlets have gone to townOn technology, it says current technologies have failedRightFor reference Tony, here’s a chart of how solar, wind et al are doing.I bet loads of companies and stockmarkets would like to fail this badly And wind and solar will continue to expand rapidlyWhere to start with the ‘new’ paper from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, approved by the great man himself and given fanfare treatment in the UK’s top tier media, calling for a ‘reset’ on action to tackle climate change? Nothing new about it: just a recycling effort. And not in a good way. Bearing in mind the word limit on LinkedIn posts, I’ll just deconstruct from the top down and see how far I get. “Voters feel they’re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle” - when advances in many countries on renewables, EVs and heat pumps will reduce energy bills in perpetuity. “Fossil fuel consumption is set to rise up to 2030” - I suggest that TBI puts some of its money into coal stocks, then I’ll believe that they believe it. “China initiated construction of 95GW of new coal-fired capacity” - and simultaneously made market reforms showing that coal will be running less and less of the time, as renewable generation rises. Oh, they forgot that bit …The thing is: the paper isn’t entirely bad. Its diagnosis is partially correct. But its prescription is all stuff that we’ve heard a hundred times before, that takes grand but ultimately vapid statements like “The current climate debate is broken” and treats them as tablets of stone. What’s missing is a call for political leaders to lead with confidence and clarity on solutions that are cost-effective, popular, gaining market share and command the favour of private investors. An odd omission, you might think, for a politician once bold enough to reform his party en route to winning three terms in office. Continue reading...
The former prime minister called on the government to change course on climate change
And here is some more comment on Tony Blair’s net zero comments from environmentalists and commentators
From Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor, on Bluesky
“We need to depoliticise the climate debate” says that Tony Blair report ...
.... the main impact of which has been to deepen the right wing culture war against net zero by describing the climate debate as “hysteria”
Tony Blair is literally being paid by a man with one of the highest carbon footprints on the planet - Larry Ellison. The founder of Oracle is his biggest funder & these techsolutionist remarks have to be seen for what they are: tech lobbying
Tony Blair Institute have released a report which is getting a lot of coverage in UK today
It says the drive for net zero emissions is flawed and some media outlets have gone to town
On technology, it says current technologies have failed
Right
For reference Tony, here’s a chart of how solar, wind et al are doing.
I bet loads of companies and stockmarkets would like to fail this badly And wind and solar will continue to expand rapidly
Where to start with the ‘new’ paper from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, approved by the great man himself and given fanfare treatment in the UK’s top tier media, calling for a ‘reset’ on action to tackle climate change?
Nothing new about it: just a recycling effort. And not in a good way.
Bearing in mind the word limit on LinkedIn posts, I’ll just deconstruct from the top down and see how far I get.
“Voters feel they’re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle” - when advances in many countries on renewables, EVs and heat pumps will reduce energy bills in perpetuity.
“Fossil fuel consumption is set to rise up to 2030” - I suggest that TBI puts some of its money into coal stocks, then I’ll believe that they believe it.
“China initiated construction of 95GW of new coal-fired capacity” - and simultaneously made market reforms showing that coal will be running less and less of the time, as renewable generation rises. Oh, they forgot that bit …
The thing is: the paper isn’t entirely bad. Its diagnosis is partially correct. But its prescription is all stuff that we’ve heard a hundred times before, that takes grand but ultimately vapid statements like “The current climate debate is broken” and treats them as tablets of stone.
What’s missing is a call for political leaders to lead with confidence and clarity on solutions that are cost-effective, popular, gaining market share and command the favour of private investors. An odd omission, you might think, for a politician once bold enough to reform his party en route to winning three terms in office. Continue reading...
