Climate Change Committee report a “manifesto for austerity”, says energy analyst
29 June 2022
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In the Media
Joseph Dinnage writes for CapX
27 June 2022
Press Release
Lifestyle Economics
15 November 2024
Commenting on the Climate Change Committee progress report, Andy Mayer, energy analyst and chief operating officer at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“Today’s Climate Change Committee progress report confirms that the Net Zero by 2050 policy is a fine aspiration but a lousy target. It is self-evident that ‘current (UK government) programmes will not deliver Net Zero’, but then no government can centrally plan global emissions, let alone by attempting to micro-manage their own economy and people. Yet that is what the state regulator of climate is recommending.
“They wish the government to subvert food production and control our diets, tax electric cars by the mile, stop the poor from flying, and force us to buy heat pumps. They wish to impose carbon tariffs on a range of essential imports, amplifying the cost-of-living crisis, risking a trade war, and undermining UK competitiveness.
“Absurdly, they describe this manifesto for climate austerity as showing ‘climate ambition’ or ‘leading the world’. Such claims have been made since 2009 and the first Climate Act, but no one is following. The EU is following China in utilising coal. The US leads on fracking. Russia has used our reliance on their gas, rather than our own, to fund a murderous war with Ukraine.
“Positively they do call for a systemic review of carbon taxes and prices, which can nudge better choices. But only to eliminate what they call ‘a disproportionately low carbon price’, rather than ensuring economy-wide consistency, and retaining international competitiveness. This again will fuel inflation, destroy UK industry’s ability to export, and reduce our standard of living.
“This report is taxpayer funded 620-page political manifesto for an ecology party that prioritises state planning over markets and state control over human ingenuity. It is not the dry analysis of an objective regulator of emissions performance, and it is past time that the CCC was reformed to return such political activism to the public realm.”
ENDSNotes to editorsContact: media@iea.org.uk, 07763 365520IEA spokespeople are available for interview and further comment.
Further reading:
Hot Air: A critique of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, by IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson
“Today’s Climate Change Committee progress report confirms that the Net Zero by 2050 policy is a fine aspiration but a lousy target. It is self-evident that ‘current (UK government) programmes will not deliver Net Zero’, but then no government can centrally plan global emissions, let alone by attempting to micro-manage their own economy and people. Yet that is what the state regulator of climate is recommending.
“They wish the government to subvert food production and control our diets, tax electric cars by the mile, stop the poor from flying, and force us to buy heat pumps. They wish to impose carbon tariffs on a range of essential imports, amplifying the cost-of-living crisis, risking a trade war, and undermining UK competitiveness.
“Absurdly, they describe this manifesto for climate austerity as showing ‘climate ambition’ or ‘leading the world’. Such claims have been made since 2009 and the first Climate Act, but no one is following. The EU is following China in utilising coal. The US leads on fracking. Russia has used our reliance on their gas, rather than our own, to fund a murderous war with Ukraine.
“Positively they do call for a systemic review of carbon taxes and prices, which can nudge better choices. But only to eliminate what they call ‘a disproportionately low carbon price’, rather than ensuring economy-wide consistency, and retaining international competitiveness. This again will fuel inflation, destroy UK industry’s ability to export, and reduce our standard of living.
“This report is taxpayer funded 620-page political manifesto for an ecology party that prioritises state planning over markets and state control over human ingenuity. It is not the dry analysis of an objective regulator of emissions performance, and it is past time that the CCC was reformed to return such political activism to the public realm.”
ENDSNotes to editorsContact: media@iea.org.uk, 07763 365520IEA spokespeople are available for interview and further comment.
Further reading:
Hot Air: A critique of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, by IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson
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