I’m not a scientist, but even I realise that whether or not we achieve “Net Zero” by 2050, is very much secondary to the fact that if we have decided as a nation to emit more CO2 as a gas, in volume terms, up to that point – then that is all that matters.
There are the economics of climate change, and then there are the politics of climate change, and whilst both these are enormously important in day-to-day pragmatism, and the representation of policy outcomes, the very simple fact is that the physics of climate change don’t care about the electoral chances of Rishi Sunak.
This back peddling, couched in terms of an appreciation of the reality of people’s day-to-day expenses, is genuinely shocking in 21st century politics – after nearly a decade and a half of increasingly inept Conservative rule.
All of the points outlined here are not only correct, they are quite simply deterministic. Why would a business invest now in seeking to comply with government legislation, if that legislation has been pushed further down the tracks? Even though it seems to be the case, business itself realises that it is not in its best interests to comply with this delay. Just like California, at the State level, moved ahead with all kinds of climate sensitive policies, whilst at the Federal level, the US Government hadn’t decided whether or not climate change was a systemic threat.
However, I should swing back around to the politics of this policy reversal: they’re simply amateurish. By all accounts, on polling from this week, three quarters of voters have now lost trust in Rishi Sunak’s competence on climate policy, and rather than achieve the solidarity with voters he was aiming for, he has simply shown himself to be opportunistic and incompetent, surely not a winning combination after Truss and Johnson…
#netzero #climatechange #policy #condervatives #rishisunak
MERCIAR BUSINESS CONSULTING 