In all the recent debate on Net Zero, for me there is one angle that has had far too little coverage – our very positive record. Not only have we cut emissions faster than any other country in the G7 group of industrial nations, with renewable output surging and coal use now negligible, but we’ve also shown leadership through COP to get more and more nations signed up to the end goal of a cleaner, greener planet – which is fundamentally a global issue. We should all be proud of that record.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the good news out there has been overlooked is the impact of social media which seems to push such debate into ‘all or nothing’ positions. Thus, discourse can seem polarised between those on the one hand who would abandon all efforts to decarbonise, and those on the other with the ‘Just Stop Oil’ tendency who are characterised as wanting an immediate – and wholly unrealistic – end to fossil fuel consumption.
In reality, I’ve met very few people of either persuasion. My sense, borne out by recent polling, is that most people want to see progress towards a more sustainable future – but they recognise the practical challenges involved, and want sensible steps without disproportionate cost.
No doubt, even with record temperatures that seem ever more frequent, and disturbing reports of more prevalent extreme weather around the world, there will always be those willing to defy the broad scientific consensus that exists around climate change – and our role in it. But I believe most people can see the wider benefits of a greener future: cleaner air; revitalised natural habitat; jobs created by green technology; and healthier lives (e.g. like me, trying to cycle as much as possible).
Yet I happen to believe that the single most important benefit of our revolutionary renewable trajectory is energy security – giving us the eventual goal of true energy freedom as a nation. We should remember that energy policy has always had a triumvirate of, potentially competing, priorities – price, security of supply, and environmental impact. Gas has become central to our energy economy because of it scoring highly, for much of our recent past, on all three. It is far cleaner than coal, which it usurped; historically relatively affordable; and with reasonable security of supply.
However, Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine put paid to the ‘gas is cheap and plentiful’ position. Instead, since his tanks crossed the border, we’ve seen an extraordinary surge in energy prices, still anchored in the UK around the marginal price of gas, with painful consequences for the cost of living.
With renewables generating 40% of our electricity last year – compared to around half that figure in the USA – we must ask ourselves how would we have weathered the recent energy shock without the green bounty of offshore wind that we have substantially harvested, much of it off East Anglia. Indeed, how would our position have been bettered by relying on imports for 100% of our oil and gas, instead of producing a substantial proportion domestically?
This is why I strongly support the Prime Minister’s recent decision to allow a new round of drilling in the North Sea. The fact is that as a country, we still rely on oil and gas to cover about 70% of our total energy needs; better we maximise economic benefit and our own energy security, than relying totally on imported fossil fuels (with much higher emissions). After all, the road to net zero is a journey, and for all the benefits that we may glean along the way, we must undertake that transition in a pragmatic way.
To take one example with local reverberations, abundant offshore wind should theoretically tick all three energy priorities: cheap, clean, and secure. But a rural community facing the threat of massive new pylons would not think such an energy source was green, and certainly not if they thought the developer had made no serious attempt to explore the offshore option.
On domestic energy, it must be self-evident that using heating oil has many downsides. I well remember our first harsh winter in Assington when costly repeat refills were required within weeks. Yet moving to better forms of domestic supply must be practicable and affordable.
Overall, we have a strong record on cutting emissions and delivering renewable energy. This has involved considerable public and private investment, the latter underpinned by confidence in credible and consistent Government policy. We should maintain that approach and look to the future with hope rather than fear.
Published in the Suffolk Free Press.
