Guest Post by Barry Woods
TATA recently announced the loss of 1500 jobs in the steel industry in the UK, with the explanation that this was at least in part because of a price on carbon announced in the setting of Carbon Budgets which are a requirement of the 2008 Climate Change Act in the UK
Bryony Worthington founder of Sandbag (a carbon trading think-tank and campaign group), formerly a Friends of the Earth campaigner, and a 10:10 campaigner and board member (No Pressure video) twittered it was ‘revenge’ for Carbon Budgets part of the Climate Change Act.
So what? You might well ask, yet another green ‘climate change’ lobbyist with no concept of business or economics. But, the concept of Carbon Budgets were Bryony Worthington’s own idea.
The idea of national carbon budgets, now in law, was hers. Her earlier career was as an environmental campaigner, heading Friends of the Earth’s climate change campaign.
She studied English literature: “very useful,” she jokes.” – The Guardian
This simple tweet of Bryony’s perhaps encapsulates a worrying mindset of a complete lack understanding of the economics of business. Only in an environmental green lobbyist mind, fighting for a noble cause, does businesses have the luxury of playing games of revenge against environmental legislation and governments.
The fact that a lobbyist like Bryony Worthington had a major role in writing the UK Climate Change Act, indicates to many that ‘green climate change’ thinking, has taken a firm grip on the political/media establishment in the UK and throughout Europe, as the priority of governments over all other issues in their economies. Far from fighting the establishment as is their romantic self-image, greens, environmentalists are now an integrated part of the political and media establishment. No more so, than in Germany where green thinking will close ALL nuclear power stations in a few short years.
Perhaps it is not ‘revenge’ Baroness Worthington, perhaps it just the hard economics of the real world, where these new unilateral carbon taxes to be introduced in the UK (which go beyond even the EU carbon penalties), will make it even more uneconomic to produce here than the already CO2 obsessed EU. These jobs amongst others will be just the first of jobs and industries that will simply relocate abroad taking their CO2 emissions with them.
“The continuing weakness in market conditions is one of the main reasons why we are setting out on this difficult course of action. Another is the regulatory outlook.
EU carbon legislation threatens to impose huge additional costs on the steel industry. Besides, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the level of further unilateral carbon cost rises that the UK government is planning,” – The Guardian
Bryony Worthington you might notice, is now Baroness Worthington, elevated to the House of Lords for her instrumental role in writing the UK Climate Change Act – 2008, where all of these taxes and economic consequences arise from.
“The House of Lords became a far greener and better place today with the appointment of the climate change policy expert and campaigner Bryony Worthington as a Labour peer.”
“…..I am very flattered and very excited,” she told me this morning. First on her agenda will be the energy market reform planned by the coalition government, “unfinished business” from the Climate Change Act which she was instrumental in writing, such as setting stronger carbon caps in the UK, and how to boost investment in green projects.” –The Guardian
To the activist/lobbyist, it is ‘saving the planet’ from climate change (man-made presumably) that is the highest, noblest political cause and the only reason that they can seem to contemplate that someone says they are wrong, is because ‘evil’ business just seeks to make a profit and does not care about anybody.
Whereas the simple explanation that the proposals may not even achieve what they aim to do (actually reduce GLOBAL CO2 emissions) just relocating jobs and industries and of course, the CO2 emissions abroad, when any unilateral green economic policy is made.
Heavy manufacturing companies are penalised by European laws forcing them to buy carbon permits costing about £15 per tonne of emissions.
While energy companies can pass on the additional costs to domestic bill payers, manufacturers have to compete internationally with places like Asia, which don’t have a carbon trading system.
Companies operating in the UK will be hit even harder when the UK sets a higher price for carbon permits than the European market price. – The Telegraph
There was (unsurprisingly) intensive industry lobbying (unelected) against the setting of the next Carbon Budget at the levels recommended by the Climate Change Committee, the Business Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer were at odds with their cabinet colleagues in a bitter cabinet discussion about risks to a fragile economy.
This was only resolved when the Prime Minister stepped in agreeing with the toughest recommendations of the Climate Change Committee.
“The deal was hammered out after tense arguments between ministers who had disagreed over whether the ambitious plans to switch to more green energy were affordable. The row had pitted the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, who strongly backed the plans, against the chancellor, George Osborne, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, who were concerned about the cost and potential impact on the economy.
However, after the intervention of David Cameron, Huhne is now expected to tell parliament that agreement has been struck to back the plans in full up to 2027.” – The Guardian
All the environmental lobby groups had also been campaigning hard and the carbon budgets only went ahead because the (equally unelected) environmental lobby groups threatened a Judicial Review.
“I understand that a key factor in the decision to go with the carbon budgets advisers recommendations was a threat by Greenpeace to take the government to judicial review if it gave way to business lobbying.” – BBC – Richard Black
Baroness Worthington was no doubt lobby hard for her Carbon Budgets and was twittering away in support and confirmed this whilst in the House of Lords (17th May)
But what does Baroness Worthington (with her English degree) know about the economic consequences of Carbon Budgets, Ed Miliband (now Labour party leader, former Minister for Energy and Climate Change) appointed to Bryony to the House of Lords, for her work on the Climate Change Act, allowing her to continue to lobby at the highest political level in the House of Lords.
“…Bryony Worthington’s appointment as a peer at such a young age was something of a surprise to her — even though she knows Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, well and played a key role helping him, as energy secretary, write the 2008 Climate Change Act….
“….I think Ed Miliband wanted to do something different and I was glad to accept [the working peerage] but it’s not something I was expecting,” she said. “Most things you really strive for in life but this just sort of landed on my plate and it’s great privilege.” – Telegraph
The green social/media/political network
A few climate connections to ponder upon:
Bryony Worthington is the founder of Sandbag and has Tony Juniper as Sandbag advisory board member, Tony Juniper also sits alongside Bryony at the 10:10 Campaign as the chair of the advisory board of the 10:10 Campaign. Tony Juniper like Bryony was at Friends of the Earth, as a long term Director of FOE and Vice Chair of Friends International, whilst at FOE Tony led the campaign for the introduction of the UK Climate Change Act, which Bryony according to Ed Miliband (then Energy and Climate Change Minister, now Labour party leader) was instrumental in writing.
Small wonder perhaps, that Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown, were speaking of ‘behind the times’, anti-science, flat-earthers, climate sceptics, climate change deniers and more worryingly (if possible) climate saboteurs in all their political rhetoric about ‘climate change’ (man-made) pre and post Copenhagen.
This insular green social network also extends into the media, where they will rarely (if ever) come across any sceptical voices amongst the like-minded people that they associate with, as they operate in the totally self reinforcing virtuous circle of a righteous elite political/media establishment.
As a media example of green cheerleading, Bryony Worthington ‘s 10:10 colleague and friend Franny Armstrong (founder 10:10, who also knows Ed well )was scooped by the Guardian, in the launch of the 10:10 ‘No Pressure‘ video campaign last October.
The scoop perhaps comes as no surprise when the Guardian’s very own Duncan Clark is also Bryony’s and Franny’s 10:10 Campaigns Strategy Director.
The fact that this video was produced at all, should be the only additional evidence required to demonstrate the existence of the closed mind green ‘climate change’ bubble surrounding the media and politicians in the UK, because so many people involved with the best media, environmental, political connections in the UK, failed to see the reactions (here, here, here, here, amongst hundreds of others, even other environmental groups)that this video would provoke which lost the 10:10 Campaign 3 out of 4 its major sponsors within hours.
What a small insular world, do these environmentalists and politicians ever have come have across anybody that is even mildly sceptical of man-made climate change in the small social network that they exist in.
Without Tony Juniper and Bryony Worthington and Ed Milliband, I have no personal doubt that the UK would ever have had a Climate Change Act.
Of course, it is not just the ‘old’ economy industries at risk like steel production (needed for wind farms?), but the new economies as well (even the green ones), with energy intensive data centres, or any big business with an electricity bill, they are also at risk of unilaterally higher bills in the UK and these will also simply relocate to a lower tax regime. Even universities, scientists jobs and scientific research is now threatened in the UK because of these consequences.
“Some facilities must find hundreds of thousands of pounds to settle green tax bills, putting jobs and research at risk.
The unexpected impact of the government’s carbon reduction commitment (CRC) scheme is so severe that scientists and research funders have lobbied ministers for an exemption to reduce the bills.
Among the worst hit is the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, a facility for research into almost limitless carbon-free energy.” – The Guardian
This is an inevitable consequence of a unilateral tax in a global economy, it pity that very few Members of Parliament MP or lobbyist seems to realise it. David Cameron, Chris Huhne and even Vince Cable and George Osborne mentioned above, were amongst the Climate Fools that voted for the 2008 Climate Change Act in the UK. Over 600 Mp’s voted for the Act, only 4 MP’s voted against the Act, only one MP Peter Lilley queried the costs at the time:
“Neither Parliament nor most of the media bothered to discuss the cost of one of the most immense projects ever adopted in this country” – Peter Lilley, MP – in 2008
Over the last 20 years there has gradually arisen a green minded political, lobbyist, media social and business establishment, wrapping themselves in a green protective bubble with the noble and no doubt sincere and honest intentions of ‘saving the planet’, (50 days to save the planet’ said Prime Minister Gordon Brown pre-Copenhagen) proponents of this noble cause, then reject all criticism as ‘denial’ or even ‘double deniers’ and denigrates criticism or concerns, as from those with suspect capitalistic motives, always failing to ask themselves, what if we are wrong?
This fact that ‘climate change’ and environmental thinking has such an unquestioned grip of the UK and European political establishment, causes great concern to me. As the political thinking (sic) in the EU, with the failings of Copenhagen and the abandonment of the Kyoto protocol, seems to be to leading the EU politicians and economies off a cliff of their own rhetoric. By way of attempting to lead the world by example, with ever tougher unilateral CO2 emission cuts and taxation.
Interesting times ahead.
Links – My original thoughts on the appointement of Baroness Worthington to the House of Lords
http://www.realclimategate.org/2010/11/climate-connections-an-alarmist-in-the-houses-of-parliament/
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“The elite will not be affected”, writes Jae. “…so severe that scientists and research funders have lobbied ministers for an exemption to reduce their bills”, writes the Guardian.
This is so reminiscent of Soviet Russia where Communist Party members had special shops with western goods unavailable to the deprived masses. Now, as then, the wicked elite screw it up for their fellow citizens and manage avoid sharing in the pain.
Truckers face tough new ‘green’ tax
June 7, 2011
An EU plan to charge road hauliers for pollution and noise has been approved by the European Parliament, despite strong opposition from Ireland and other peripheral member states.
Under the so-called “Eurovignette” rule which aims to divert haulage from road to rail, drivers of trucks of over 3.5 tonnes could be charged up to 4 cents extra per kilometre in a “road use” charge.
http://eurolinknews.com/2011/06/07/truckers-face-tough-new-green-tax/
Possibly most of Western Europe England, France, Germany, ect could collapse economically along with Australia the dumbest of them all when it comes to AGW, if they implement Cap and Trade. I don’t think the European Latin countries such as Italy and Spain (already has tried it and failed so not again please!), East Europe, Russia or any of the Americas, India or China, Africa, Israel or Arab nations will any C02 emission reductions for AGW theory.
More alarmist rhetoric from those who preach doom and gloom will be upon us if pollution is reduced. Do these alarmists really expect us to buy into their hype?
What an excellent article.
As to my comment on its content MMMMWWWWaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahah.
Since there is absolutely nothing I can do about the Green insanity in the UK I may as well fix a silly grin on my face and laugh my sock off as the place self destructs. It is way beyond worrying or dangerous now. It is firmly in Monty Python territory so I plan to sit in the sun drinking red wine and chuckle.
More than likely she does not care. The “revenge” justification merely serves to allow her to further demonize industry. And note the eviros confidence that the Judiciary will exact its own form of revenge on industry.
What about this story then? Has it been refuted?
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=118659
Road charging rules (Eurovignette)
Missed opportunity means trucks will fail to fully pay their way
The European Parliament today voted on a final agreement, revising EU legislation on road charging for heavy goods vehicles (the so-called Eurovignette). The Greens have called the legislative revision a missed opportunity for failing to truly include environmental and climate change costs in road charging for trucks. After the vote, Green transport spokesperson and shadow rapporteur for the Eurovignette directive Eva Lichtenberger said:
“The EU has missed an opportunity to truly reform road charging for trucks to ensure that the real costs of road transport on the environment and climate are included. The Greens voted for the proposal today, as the principle of charging for ‘external costs’ has been included for the first time in EU legislation, but we do so reluctantly, as the final legislation has been watered-down beyond all meaning, with a raft of external road transport costs excluded from the Eurovignette. On top of this, the legislation is riddled with loopholes, notably the exclusion of all vehicles below 12 tonnes.”
Green transport spokesperson Michael Cramer added:
“While the costs of noise and air pollution will be included in the Eurovignette charging, other crucial ‘external costs’ of road transport have totally been left out. It is baffling that the costs of road accidents will be excluded from the charging. The environment also gets short shrift, with the costs of landscape and biodiversity damage, as well as climate change and oil dependence costs, also ignored. Crucially, the revised charging will be left to member states to apply voluntarily, which will ensure road transport continues to have an unfair advantage over rail transport. The final result is an excessively complicated legislative compromise, which will fail to ensure that real polluters are properly charged for the damage they cause and will fail to provide sufficient protection for sensitive areas, notably mountain regions.”
http://www.greens-efa.eu/road-charging-rules-eurovignette-3919.html
The infection is spreading. It has already claimed many states in the US and a couple of provinces in Canada. It has metastasised and will ultimately spread to the entire west — destroying and maiming as it goes. And they wonder what could have possessed a people to give rise to the Third Reich. We are witnessing the early stages of exactly the same thing. I wonder how long we have before they come for us? Will they be content with re-educating us, or will they go straight to the ovens like before? We are all Winston Smith now.
When they realise the folly of the climate change act the only option left will be to lower costs to the industries of the UK and get the sheeple to pay even high bills but thats ok there only humans.
This potentially bodes well for the USA. If we can run our own nut jobs out of office in 2012, and take an axe to the Gordian knot of EPA regulations and all the other impediments to progress (don’t misunderstand me: some of the regulations are good. However, probably 80% of the benefit comes from 20% of the regs. Get back to those that are useful, and trash the rest, and fire all those responsible for the useless or even harmful stuff).
Then, following Pawlenty’s advice today, shoot for the moon. Develop the massive energy resources here that can compete in the energy market, reopen our doors to industry, and take away everything in Europe that is languishing because of the described insanity. While they’re wallowing in the “flight” of industry, we can build our way out of this economically depressed state that we’ve allowed our idiotic environmentalists and politicians (Dems in particular) to land on us.
Failing that, better learn to speak some Asian languages.
I personally agree with this minister. I further believe the UN should quickly recognize Britain as a refuge for worldwide eco-loons so the rest of us can ship our fantasy dopes over to this Island Paradise. PS: All Canadian dope excel in the “arts and crafts” a boon to island residents in need of creative economics classes for the educationally challenged.
I view the Baroness as evil incarnate. Hitler only killed a few million. She seems to be aiming to kill billions.
Tata hasn’t taken revenge on carbon trading, it’s exploited the system again by mothballing rather than closing the plant. If it closed it, it would not then be entitled to the carbon credits it’ll still be able to get free and sell on, or transfer to it’s other plants. Because the policies were designed by highly competant economists like Ms. Worthington the systems she’s helped create have been widely exploited. For this, she gets promoted to a more senior lobbying position.
It is amazing how myopic and narrowminded these people are. Because they are petty and hold a grudge, they assume everyone does. Because “Bryony Worthington” would have taken revenge for an action she didn’t like, she assumes a corporation does too.
Very interesting article.
The introduction of a cheap, clean and abundant energy source has been put back decades by these idiots, Even if there was such an energy source available and ready to go into operation tomorrow, it would be lobbied against for various reasons, one being that it would collapse energy markets world wide and destroy this “green economic fantasy”. One single hint of Cheap clean and abundant energy and a lot of these fraudsters are out of business for good. I believe there is some deviousness behind what seems to be willful stupidity from a bunch of “concerned” environmental activists.
As always, follow the money
“In every year from 2003 through 2009, Friends of the Earth Europe was awarded operating grants from the European Unions’ Environment DG representing anywhere from 40 percent to 53 percent of its annual budget. Friends of the Earth Europe has been receiving EU subsidies since 1997.”
This is a direct quote from
The EU Connection in Climate Research by John Rosenthal
http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/43291
The best summary I’ve read so far about the politicised spin surrounding AGW and how most of it, from Pachuri (TERI) to CRU to WWF et al get the lions share of their funding from the non-elected “civil-service” side of the EU.
Thats right EU taxpayers’ money is being used to bank-role special interest groups whose main activity is to produce the “science” to support CO2 based taxation.
Its amazingly effective too. For a few hundered thousand you get a “peer” in the British 2nd house.
The EU apparatchiks can now influence policy from afar. How is that in the interests of democracy?
May UAH is out.
About two years ago Dr Richard North (Eureferendum blog) flagged up the carbon credit aspect of TATA’s investment in the UK steel industry and predicted the carbon credits would pay for the British Steel industry to be closed down and moved to India. I think this story then led Richard to look at Pachauri’s involvement with TATA, which led to the discovery of Pachauri’s Green charities and eventually a lot of dirt about Pachauri’s role as a big receiver of green grants and money.
Here are 22 posts on the TATA TERI Pachauri story http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/search/label/Tata
Sadly the media have simply ignorred what has been going on in front of their eyes.
How many malefactors have appeared before a judge or magistrate pleading ignorance of the law? The answer is always the same: “Ingnorance of the law is no excuse.” A good burning at the stake or two might sober up this crowd – maybe.
It’s back to the Dark Ages – all superstition, mythology and the equivalent of witch burning – if this nonsense takes a normal course where no one is allowed to tell the truth.
Western Civilization will come undone as it’s economic/industrial base is ripped apart.
In to fill the vacuum will come the neighboring civilizations.
Ages do not tolerate the inept or the cavalier for long, and that goes double for the defenseless.
“The Commanding Heights” was a phrase coined around 1922 and used by Lenin as a reference to controlling the means of production–agriculture, utility power, transportation and transportation fuels, mining, heavy industry, banking, etc.
Between 1924 and 1953, 20 million Russians died.
The U.N. Rio Earth Summit “Agenda 21” (led by Maurice Strong in 1992) is a reference to controlling international and national plans and policies to ensure that all economic decisions fully take into account any environmental impact. In other words, the U.N. led “environmental movement” or “Agenda 21” or “Rio Earth Summit” was precisely what Lenin prescribed almost exactly 70 years earlier.
In my younger days, a high British peerage was rarely awarded afresh (not hereditary) for acts or performance far beyond the normal. The honoured person was customarily seen to be worthy by the majority of citizens who felt national pride of the achievement of the person.
Many a high Honour has now been debased to a payoff for toeing the Party line doggedly, which has completely prostituted to system. I suspect that Royal approval, when needed, is influenced by Chukka who has shown the world the heart on his sleeve. He is the one who lists homeopathy as his first choice for medical attention and had a flirtation with tampons. He appears to deplore nuclear energy and makes a handsome profit by leasing his land to windmill farmers.
This is a microcosm of the decline in Briain. It’s stupidity in aligning with the European Union has allowed the hardened nutters from Germany to infiltrate, but that’s OK because the Royals have long and close family ties to Germany through 2 world wars and before.
Painting themselves into a corner, the EU will become increasingly irrelevant. They might do trade anong each other in future years, but they will isolate themselves from the rest of the world, creating the makings of further serious warfare. This goes beyond dogma about carbon pollution. it sets the stage for major global tensions.
Menawhile, money that could be spent to raise living standards in poor counties is being peed against the blades of wasteful windmills and so forth.
Here is an indication of looming tension. Early this week German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a reborn nuclear phase-out based on an “ethics report” that seems to have disregarded practical aspects of power supply and said it was possible for Germany to avoid restarting the seven reactors shut during the recent moratorium and to close the rest by 2022. Meanwhile, Electricite de France (EdF) has announced to its shareholders that it will emphasize its “core expertise and industrial knowhow” in nuclear energy as part of its goal to operate 200 GWe of generating capacity worldwide by 2020. (Sources: World Nuclear Reports 26 May and 2 June 2011.) What happens when France starts to screw Germany on exported nuclear electricity prices? Tension?
jae certainly has it right. If they are successful in this endeavour to turn back the clock on industrialism in the UK , then the House of Lords may actually have some sort of meaning again! I imagine many of the greens would like to fancy themselves landed gentry with large estates filled with plenty of trees (CO2 capture devices) and serfs (green biologic workers) to work it. Ah, the life of a Lord is a green life indeed.