There could be no better example of how those in the grip of groupthink tend to float ever further off into make-believe than a recent article by Claire Perry, our new Minister of State for Energy.
She was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Climate Change Act, the one which committed Britain, uniquely in the world, to an 80 percent cut in our CO2 emissions by 2050 (once described by Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former joint chief of staff as a “monstrous act of self-harm”).
Perry boasted that this “ground-breaking Act has been absolutely instrumental in advancing climate action globally over the past decade”, and is now inspiring other nations “to follow in our footsteps.” She went on to say that “trillions of pounds of private sector capital… will be needed to be deployed if we are to meet our binding targets”.
Has Perry ever looked at the figures to see how far the rest of the world has, in fact, been following in our footsteps?
It is true that in the past decade the UK, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy, has cut its emissions by 28 percent, mainly by closing down the coal-fired power stations that until 2015 still supplied 30 percent of our electricity, so we now contribute barely one percent to the global total.
But China, the world’s largest emitter, contributing 27 percent of the total, has in the same period increased its emissions by 24 percent and plans by 2030 to have doubled them. India, the third largest emitter, has increased them by 54 percent and plans to have tripled them.
So our energy minister thinks we should continue to set an example to the world by spending “trillions” on meeting a target that could only be achieved by closing down virtually all our economy, while the rest of the world takes not the blindest notice.
Read more at The Telegraph
Sources of Hot Air and Malarkey Al Bore,Leonardo DiCaprio,Barack Obama,Laurie David,Greenpeace,Sierra Club,NRDC,EDF,Friends of the Earth,Rakooi
Drewski
You are a LIAR
“CHINA & INDIA are spending TRILLIONS on transitioning AWAY from COAL…but still protecting their populations in the mean time.” Rakooi, you are full of crap. China is bringing one new coal plant on line per week. How does this “transitioning AWAY from COAL?” In some cities in China the pollution from coal plants is the same as smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. How is this “protecting their populations?” In the US exhaust is cleaned before it leaves the plant.
You say the United States has the largest per capita carbon dioxide emissions. This isn’t even close to being the truth. Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands Antilles, Kuwait, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Aruba, Bahrain, Luxembourg, and Falkland Islands all have more per capita.
Many industrial activities that we depend on produce waste.
You also missed the main point of the article. In comparison to China and India, any reduction Britain does is insignificant, so why should they spend so much doing it?
Not mentioned in the article the bottom line is carbon dioxide is not controlling the climate so there is no need to limit emissions.
Global warming/Climate Change is the biggist scam ever perpatriated upon mankind