Net Zero Is Dying: Blackouts, High Costs & the Politicians and CEOs Who Quietly Changed Their Minds

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John Stossel

We were told climate change is an “existential” threat.

So governments everywhere pledged to go net-zero and stop increasing emissions.

It didn’t work.

Net-zero was pushed again and again.

President Biden pledged the USA would go net-zero by 2050.

Obama bragged about how, “700 cities in more than 50 countries have pledged to reach net-zero.”

For a while it seemed like that might happen. Some European countries claimed to get 60% of their power from renewables.

But then they faced soaring energy costs and blackouts.

“The power outages are the starkest illustration of bad electricity policy,” says energy expert Alex Epstein. “But you can avoid power outages with these bad policies. What you can’t avoid is scarcity and rationing and poverty.”

In the video above we break down those consequences, explain why net-zero fails, and cover the governments (and businesses) walking back their net-zero push.

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79 Comments
August 27, 2026 2:12 pm

Is the green nightmare over?

No, It’s got forty plus years of indoctrinated people who grew up in the last 45 years believing that CO2 driven climate is going to be a disaster.

Reply to  Steve Case
August 27, 2026 2:27 pm

True. It’s going to be a long battle to get back to good sense.

J Boles
Reply to  David Dibbell
August 27, 2026 2:53 pm

There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth! there must be pain before things get reversed.

ResourceGuy
Reply to  J Boles
August 27, 2026 4:54 pm

I think it will have to be close to home in each European country, otherwise they will just shrug if it happens in Spain or in far off holiday destinations.

Reply to  Steve Case
August 28, 2026 1:14 am

There is still too much money cashed with the Green Climate Cult dogma of catastrophic CO2. The US administration went full reverse under Trump and also lots of companies silently back off. But EU still tries to go full steam ahead, although increasingly struggling with chaos created by bureaucratic Green Deal overkill like the PPWR.

Reply to  Steve Case
August 28, 2026 7:11 am

Yup, especially when you have companies like Amazon signing an agreement with 4 wind complexes in Sweden to get power for it’s data center expansion. Colossally stupid, but because it’s Amazon, stupid people will cite the agreement as proof that you can power data centers with intermittent and unreliable power sources. https://seekingalpha.com/news/4637764-amazon-signs-power-deals-for-four-swedish-wind-farms-to-fuel-data-center-expansion-report?utm_content=link-1&position=rta_news_sublogic_pretestlaunch_main_0_title&utm_source=seeking_alpha&utm_campaign=rta-stock-news&messageid=2900&mailingid=47243664&serial=47243664.16928&utm_term=47243664.16928&source=email_2900&utm_medium=email#comment-103390101

August 27, 2026 2:12 pm

For a while it seemed like that might happen. Some European countries claimed to get 60% of their power from renewables.

But then they faced soaring energy costs and blackouts.

Are these blackouts caused by renewables in the room with us?

Also as an update: It’s about energy security now, not net-zero. Did heartland institute not send out the new talking points?

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 2:15 pm

There’s only a need for “energy security” because of all the mental retardation from people like you.

Reply to  Jeff Alberts
August 27, 2026 2:16 pm

I would say trump and putin are not like me but what do I know.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 2:28 pm

You know nothing.

Harry Durham
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
August 27, 2026 3:01 pm

That’s partially unfair. Suspect a better response comes from Will Rogers (others said it first, but I like his version best):

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble, it’s what you DO know that ain’t so…”

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Harry Durham
August 27, 2026 5:02 pm

Seems to amount to the same thing in this case.

Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 2:20 pm

You can NEVER have energy security using wind and solar.. Only energy insecurity !

Net-Zero DESTROYS energy security…

SwedeTex
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 3:47 pm

They were in Texas in February 2021 during Uri

Reply to  SwedeTex
August 27, 2026 5:24 pm

MUNR thinks natural gas was what caused the Texas blackout during the arctic cold front of Feb. 2021.

Before some genius decided to put a name to arctic cold fronts, one could tell right when it happened because the date is part of the name.

I bet a lot of people had to look up Uri.

Tom Johnson
Reply to  Tom Abbott
August 27, 2026 7:04 pm

I was there throughout Uri. When the freezing rain struck, Texas was getting 40 percent of its power from wind and most of the turbines froze up. That put the grid into rolling blackouts, which shut down some of the gas compressors, reducing even more power. A heavy snow fall at the beginning, and another near the end bookended the 10-day storm. The roads froze with huge ruts that blocked most truck traffic during the 10 days leaving the gas stations without gasoline refills.

paul courtney
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 4:07 pm

Mr. whatever: Good luck on this gaslighting venture, your doctor asked us not to respond when you speak of “things in the room with us” because the nurses report it agitates you.

ResourceGuy
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 4:38 pm

The KGB is now figuring that Europe would fall over like dominoes faster than France fell early in WW2 and certainly faster than the resourceful Ukrainians.

Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 28, 2026 11:56 pm

Also as an update: It’s about energy security now, not net-zero.

So you’re saying we can abandon net-zero.

I think that’s the only sensible suggestion you’ve made in the past, whatever number of years you have posted your ridiculous nonsense.

Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 28, 2026 11:58 pm

It’s about energy security now, not net-zero.

It’s always been about energy security, something solar and wind can never reliably achieve, yet we’ve wasted, and continue to waste, billions of pounds on these useless monuments to political folly

mleskovarsocalrrcom
August 27, 2026 2:43 pm

The worm is turning. Too many missed projections (all of them), new onerous regulations, high costs, selective enforcement (only the West), and poor energy reliability all add up to reality.

August 27, 2026 2:44 pm

Interesting points, but probably too optimistic. Too many ‘green’ vested interests need to be overcome. Will take a good while longer to finally defeat Greens and Net Zero.
They will eventually be defeated—reality is stacked against them in many ways.
But then reality is also stacked against DSA, yet Dumocrats don’t seem to care—AOC just renewed her lapsed membership!

Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 27, 2026 2:54 pm

On further thought, I probably just made a logical mistake in my last sentence by even loosely associating AOC with reality. Remarkable how far a bartender can go in Congress.

Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 27, 2026 3:21 pm

If a rich nepo kid that never worked a day in his life can become president…

Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 3:27 pm

Obama??? Or Biden???

Trump has most definitely worked most of his life and has produced far more for mankind than Obama, Biden, and definitely a several magnitudes more than a non-productive twerp hiding in a basement, ever will.

Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 3:53 pm

MUR, you say a Nepo that 47 never worked a day in his life?
MUR, you truly live in an alternative universe.
47 became president (twice) because he worked his ass off in real estate earning billions from the million his father originally staked him (my two kids have both also done well—not nearly that well—with what I much smaller staked them. That is what loving Dads just do if they are able.) Then learning independently comms as host of ‘The Apprentice’ earning a Hollywood sidewalk star, and now 45/47 with 46 provably stolen.

AOC is a kid, but not a real Nepo kid. Her well off parents did support her, but she did nothing with that support. Bartender is NOT a Nepo end goal.

Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 27, 2026 5:30 pm

AOC and Kamala have a lot in common. Both of them are totally unqualified to have anything to do with the direction of the United States.

Mr.
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 3:58 pm

If you’re alluding to whom I suspect you are, how come this same supposedly ~54-times bankrupted person could even stump up the price of an application form to stand for even the local town garbage supervisor election?

The whole world must be wondering about this anomaly, surely Shirley?

J Boles
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 4:29 pm

MUR you are delusional, fooling yourself but not us, need to stop using FF ASAP, show us how you live using wind and solar.

George Thompson
Reply to  MyUsernameReloaded
August 27, 2026 4:48 pm

OOOOH! MUR has learned a new word…using it wrong, of course, but hey.

Beta Blocker
Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 27, 2026 3:26 pm

AOC understands that the DSA represents the economic populism of the left, and that economic populism in one form or another is on the rise in many places around the world.

One form or the other of economic populism will eventually win out in this country. Either the MAGA movement’s version of economic populism will win out, or the DSA’s version will win out.

One side will win, the other will lose. For the mid to long term future, it’s just that simple.

For true blue Democrats, they are happy as long as anyone who calls themself a Democrat is in power, DSA allied or not. AOC will make her peace with the DSA because she needs their enthusiasm and energy to keep herself in power.

For the Republican Establishment aka the Country Club Republicans, they are perfectly happy to be the controlled opposition to the Democrats as long as they can keep making a lot of money doing it. They see the MAGA movement and its economic populism as their enemy, and they want to see it crushed.

If the Democrats take control of the Congress in 2027 and the presidency in 2029, these Country Club Republicans will huff and puff about the evils of marxism-socialism, but in reality they will take little or no effective action to oppose it.

mleskovarsocalrrcom
Reply to  Beta Blocker
August 27, 2026 4:38 pm

Why does it have to be one side or the other wins? There are some countries that mix Capitalism with Socialism effectively. The Nordic countries for example. Even the USA has hints of Socialist ideology.

Beta Blocker
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
August 27, 2026 5:01 pm

One version of economic populism will win out, and the other will lose, because the middle ground is gone. There is no coming together.

A key driver why there is no coming together is that Americans who play by the rules in working hard to build a future for themselves are losing out in a system where foreign immigrants, legal and illegal, are given preference for hiring in a variety of employment avenues which used to be pathway’s into the middle class.

This is a problem greatly magnified by the loss of American industry to China and to other Asian nations.

And this is true both for those who look towards the DSA’s version of economic populism — promise everyone a lot of free stuff — versus the MAGA movement’s version of economic populism: hire Americans and bring industry back to America even if it means we pay somewhat more for the same stuff.

The DSA’s message resonates powerfully with those who have worked hard and who have next to nothing to show for it.

It’s completely true that everyone’s economic situation will get worse if the DSA’s version of economic populism eventually wins out. But the reality of this possible outcome is an abstraction for those who currently find themselves trapped in an economic strata which no amount of hard work can get them out of.

JTraynor
Reply to  Beta Blocker
August 30, 2026 8:29 am

Neither side will win. One side believes in self-reliance, as I do, but fails to recognize easy wins to keep their jobs. Or gets horribly distracted on things that don’t move the needle.

The other side preaches free everything, but when their followers find out that nothing is free, they will ditch these clueless ones.

The one that actually solves the big problem (too much government interference in the economy) will win the day. Very few have jumped to the forefront on this, though.

My generation was too busy to teach the current generation, as we outsourced this incredibly important role to clueless bureaucrats (Clueless and Bureaucrat, a redundancy, I know.).

One can only hope that the next generation decides to ignore both sides and actually educate themselves. If not, we’re all toast.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
August 27, 2026 5:06 pm

The Nordic countries don’t practice Socialism. They practice social welfare, a huge difference.

mleskovarsocalrrcom
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
August 27, 2026 7:30 pm

Didn’t say they did, read it again. They mix the two ideologies just like the USA and many other countries do.

Derg
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
August 27, 2026 11:56 pm

It is so easy to take money and give it to the poor 😉

Reply to  Derg
August 28, 2026 3:43 am

It is so easy to take money and give it to the poor 

It is so easy to take make money and give it to the poor. There fixed for you. And, by make, I mean print money. AKA, 40 trillion in debt.  

Derg
Reply to  Jim Gorman
August 28, 2026 4:01 am

No, Government takes money via taxation. They also spend more than they take in. Those create deficits and debt.

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Beta Blocker
August 27, 2026 5:05 pm

The DSA is economic destruction.

ethical voter
Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 27, 2026 3:20 pm

The truth is always the last man standing but that doesn’t mean the fight will be short, cheap or pretty.

Keitho
Editor
Reply to  Rud Istvan
August 28, 2026 1:17 am

The momentum of money keeps it all going much longer than it should. Greed overwhelms almost everything.

Mac
August 27, 2026 2:57 pm

Hey User Name; I think if you move to the UK or are not already there, you can help litter valuable farm land with solar panels and wind turbines to help deindustrialize the UK and of course turn the UK annual GDP negative; maybe a worthwhile goal is say -2%. What do you say? That would be a great goal for you wouldn’t it?

August 27, 2026 4:15 pm

Another Epstein spreading lies. We all learned from the Epstein files about how the child rapists are also climate deniers. Funny how nepotism works

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 5:08 pm

Hopefully you’ll be receiving a subpoena soon. You deserve it.

Reply to  Jeff Alberts
August 27, 2026 9:33 pm

Cry harder

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 5:10 pm

I was thinking today that the Epstein saga has gone quiet. The silence seems to have occurred soon after the Clinton interviews.

I am not sure Bill and Hillary would consider themselves climate deniers.

Reply to  RickWill
August 27, 2026 9:33 pm

Epstein was a climate denier.

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 11:59 pm

As are most Democrats..

… probably not “denial”… more like complete ignorance.

J Boles
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 5:20 pm

And just what are they denying?

Reply to  J Boles
August 27, 2026 7:34 pm

Alex did not say one single thing that was untrue.

Just things the far-left goonies don’t want to hear.

The other Epstein was a huge Democrat supporter.. big donations.

Reply to  bnice2000
August 27, 2026 9:35 pm

Both Epsteins are climate deniers. Not coincidental that deniers are pedophiles

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 11:20 pm

Nothing Alex said was incorrect.. so there goes your putrid attempt at ad hom.

Trump is also correct about the climate scam.

What does he “deny” that you can provide real scientific evidence for.?

You are using a word you heard someone say… but have zero clue what it means.

Derg
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 11:59 pm

What is a climate denier?

Reply to  Derg
August 28, 2026 12:14 am

Someone who denies the current climate

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 12:23 am

You mean that we are a colder period of the Holocene only a bit above the coldest period in 10,000 years ?

Or are you a climate denier. ?

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 1:51 am

How can someone “deny the current climate”?
You may deny that the climate is changing if you wish, (although I don’t know of anyone who does that), but you can’t deny that it exists.

C-, Eric. Must improve use of words..

Derg
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 3:55 am

That doesn’t make sense. What is the climate?

Reply to  J Boles
August 27, 2026 9:34 pm

The current climate

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 11:36 am

Yep, we’re currently in a mild interglacial of the Pleistocene Ice Age.

Hope that helps.

Mr.
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 8:35 pm

Who is the most acknowledged & celebrated pedo in the whole history of the world?

His name begins with Mo and ends with hammed.

Reply to  Mr.
August 27, 2026 9:35 pm

Trump. Also a climate denier

Reply to  Mr.
August 28, 2026 12:15 am

lol. You think the Babylon bee is an actual news site. My god are deniers dumb

Derg
Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 28, 2026 3:57 am

The New York Times is certainly not “real” news.

Reply to  Eric Flesch
August 27, 2026 11:16 pm

Not a denier at all. He KNOWS its a scam. !!

Reply to  Mr.
August 28, 2026 12:25 am

You have to feel a bit sorry for EF….. I wonder if it was his uncle or his neighbour. !

August 27, 2026 4:16 pm

There are two emerging drivers of the eventual death of NetZero.

Machine learning is knowledge rich and trained beliefs are gradually being erased by new knowledge.

MS Copilot on the question “what is your view on the future of NetZero”

The reply starts with
Physical energy system inertia – The Global energy system is a $6 to $7tr/year machine.

80% fossil share
1.5bn combustion vehicles
40,000 power stations
etc
Then goes on to material constraints and states it is physically impossible with current technology by 2050.

It does give some hope suggesting that the politically driven aspirational goals will remain.

So Copilot still has a way to go in full understanding but it does suggest nuclear and more hydro plus pumped hydro to work with wind and solar.

Of course the other aspect is the energy needed for data centres. All the big ones will be in China if the west continues to push for NetZero. Just another phase of shifting more CO2 production to China.

Reply to  RickWill
August 27, 2026 5:03 pm

As a matter of interest, I asked Copilot to compare the carbon intensity of the battery firmed solar for Australia’s NEM that a did a while back.

Using 20 year life for solar/battery and 60 year life for USC coal plant, It determined the solar/battery carbon intensity would be 1600gCO2/kWh versus 800gCO2/kWh for USC coal generator.

Not sure if this is good or bad for the planet but it is not good for Australia’s prosperity.

ResourceGuy
August 27, 2026 4:30 pm

Once again the critical information is missing from public view and discussion. An uncompetitive industrial base and the methods used to support what remains is often overlooked in the shifting tides of market shares and exposure for jobs and investments. The armwavers in DC and biased media don’t bother to investigate how deep the government support goes in Europe for legacy industries. The French have been doing it for generations.

Bob
August 27, 2026 5:04 pm

Moving forward.

Edward Katz
August 27, 2026 5:57 pm

It could easily be that more governments, industries, businesses and consumers have realized that Net Zero in an unattainable goal with the current fossil fuel-dominated energy sources and that renewables can’t come close to supplanting them probably until the next century. So fewer and fewer of the above are willing to make the effort and spend the huge sums needed to reach such a target.

purecolorartist@gmail.com
August 27, 2026 8:05 pm

John Stossel forgot to mention that greenhouse gases are not making the climate worse.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  purecolorartist@gmail.com
August 28, 2026 3:48 am

It wasn’t necessary for his argument. He did make clear that there was no “Climate Crisis” however.

Bruce Cobb
August 28, 2026 3:52 am

The entire Climate Industrial Complex is collapsing under the weight of its own lies. Yes, it is huge so it will take some time. Trump has certainly been responsible for accelerating that process.

Sean Galbally
August 28, 2026 5:00 am

Net Zero advocates, particularly Red Ed Miliband and other left wing mainstream policy makers, just answer one question. Are you aware that 90% of atmospheric greenhouse gases are clouds and water vapour, over which we have no control. Even after many years burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide is just 0.04%. It has a tiny effect on climate by comparison. We may need to scrub polluting emissions. Climate change is real and mainly caused by variation in the sun’s activity, it is not man-made and cannot be changed by him. Hence Net Zero (carbon dioxide) is a very very costly scam, perpetrated by people who do not understand the science or who have ulterior motives.

The Real Engineer
August 28, 2026 9:03 am

Oh dear, the second law of thermodynamics is beginning to really strike the “greens”. Now just who would have thought that!

August 30, 2026 7:36 am

Newsflash, the only way to stop atmospheric CO2 from increasing is to stop the oceans from warming. Oceans warm due to incoming short-wave visible radiation, not outgoing LWIR. Simply look at the ice core data; CO2 doesn’t drive the cyclical nature of CO2 and temperature. The IPCC just admitted climate science is a hoax, and that their extreme models are a fraud.

NYT “The authors said they discarded the RCP8.5 scenario because it had “become implausible” thanks to actions countries have taken to tackle ..”

That is a lie. CO2 trend remains unchanged, so the actions they took cost trillions and did absolutely nothing.

CampsieFellow
August 30, 2026 11:02 am

“We must ransition away from fossil fuels”, said John Kerry. Why? Because me and my chums will make large sums of money in the process.