Britain & Germany May Delay Coal Phase-Out
The financial uncertainty triggered by the UK’s vote to leave the EU has sent shudders through virtually every industry, but Europe’s renewable energy sector faces even greater insecurity. The successful Leave campaign was led by several political figures opposed to tackling climate change by replacing fossil fuel power stations with wind farms and other sources of renewable energy. The campaign’s strategy committee included Lord [Nigel] Lawson, founder of the Global Warming Policy Foundation think-tank which says the science of climate change is “not yet settled”. –Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 4 July 2016
Britain’s decision to leave the European Union frees up the nation to set environmental rules independent of the other 27-nations in the bloc, raising the risk for renewable energy developers that restrictions will be loosened on coal power. –Jessica Shankleman, Bloomberg, 5 July 2016
Climate sceptics are taking advantage of the confusion caused by the EU referendum to attack the UK’s low carbon policy. The Global Warming Policy Forum, a think tank founded by Leave backer Lord Lawson, is hosting an event in the House of Lords on Monday evening. Legal professor David Campbell is set to argue the government should scrap the carbon budget for 2028-32 it approved last Thursday. Noting that the impact assessment was based on the assumption Britain would be in the EU in 2030, the GWPF calls for a review. None of the Conservative leadership candidates have indicated plans to do so, director Benny Peiser told Climate Home. But he added: “If they think the targets are a burden to the economy and undermining British competitiveness, then all of the candidates will be open to revising the targets.” –Megan Darby, Climate Home, 3 July 2016
In view of the shambles engulfing our politics in all directions, it might seem appropriate that last Thursday MPs should blithely have accepted that, within a few years, our lights will go out and our economy will grind to a halt. What they allowed to be nodded through was something called the “Fifth Carbon Budget”, committing us to an energy policy so insanely unworkable that it can only result in Britain committing economic suicide. Apart from the Global Warming Policy [Forum] and 15 Tory MPs, including three former Cabinet ministers, almost no one seems to have pointed out that, whatever happens to Brexit, Parliament has now set us firmly on course for a disaster beyond all imagining. –Christopher Booker, The Sunday Telegraph, 3 July 2016
h/t to Dr. Benny Peiser of The GWPF
Not an easy one to call…
Certainly ‘green’ companies set up to install sunshine panels, windmills, insulation etc etc seem to be failing and disappearing all the time..
but….
this whole green thing has become a fantastic little earner for the Exchequer, esp. via arbitrary/exorbitant new taxes but also job creation thro legions of (Government) ‘workers’ to create new laws/regulations and thereafter to enforce them – plus of course legions of (private sector) workers to ensure they or their companies don’t fall foul of all that tedious garbage. Then all their cronies in the banking and legal systems have to take a slice.
That all adds up to more tax income, higher prices for almost everything and because everything is subject to ‘Value Added Tax’ the thing just snowballs. Plus of course fines and costs for the inevitable non compliances that are bound to occur.
They are not gonna let that drop very easily/quickly or probably ever in mine or yours lifetime.
Our current chancellor Osborne, in his scare mongering role announced that ‘tax will have to rise’
For the UK, he might as well have got off his lazy guilt ridden finger-wagging backside and announced that ‘fish can swim’
You may continue to have it all and in all aspects of the budget post Brexit, but you have to do banking like the Italians to get there.
When does the vote on green sanity come up?
As a basic guide to how wilfully incompetent the UK politicians have been since 1997, you might ponder on how long, realistically, it takes from deciding on a path of commissioning new power stations and actually generating the first useful amounts of energy from them. The answer is somewhere between 15 and 25 years, depending on the hoohahs caused by where they might be sited, what form of energy they might use etc etc.
The fact that the Labour Govt of 1997 to 2010 did not decide to commission one single new power station to replace aging ones tells you all you need to know about the politicians occupying ‘high office’ at that time.
France and China have reaped the benefits of this, getting ridiculous sweetheart deals to build new ones this decade.
“…
CNBC GLOBAL CFO COUNCIL
Brexit set to bash Brits but not bolster Trump: CNBC survey
Matt Clinch | @mattclinch81
COMMENTSJoin the Discussion
Temasek PKG How Temasek is investing post-Brexit
1 Hour Ago|04:23
The U.K. economy will be negatively affected by the country’s vote to leave the EU, according to a new CNBC survey of chief financial officers (CFOs), with the results also suggesting the recent referendum will do little to boost the chances of Donald Trump becoming the next U.S. president.
Ninety-seven percent of global CFOs across a wide range of industries said that Brexit would have a “negative” or “very negative” impact on the U.K. economy over the next six months, with 81.8 percent stating the same for the economy of the European Union….”
This 97 percent again….