The climate-policy world got shaken up this week with COP29 right around the corner (a long-awaited eco-meet-up) and Ed Milibandʼs power-sector plans under review. The governments so-called flexibility target needs to grow four times bigger by 2030 which looks like old-style rationing with a new-age name
Fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security‚ or indeed the affordability‚ we need
The UKʼs power-grid relies on gas for about 40% of its juice‚ but theres bigger news from across the pond. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (top-tier green-policy fans) just lost to Donald Trump who doesnt like the Paris deal one bit. His win made eco-groups lose their cool: some called him the worlds strongest climate-policy enemy
The world feels a whole lot more terrifying this morning; [we] will try even harder to light candles rather than curse the darkness
The whole thing hits different now because green-rules are starting to touch peoples daily life - not just behind-the-scenes stuff. The Institute for Fiscal Studies dropped a bomb last week: each home might need to pay 120 extra pounds for green-fees (thats gonna hurt). Plus the Climate Change Committee wants everyone to eat half as much meat and dairy by 2050
The real-world math isnt looking good either: UK factory power-costs are already twice as high as other big countries. Its making people think - maybe we dont need to live worse to fix climate stuff‚ and Trumps way of using tech and business smarts could work better than forcing everyone to cut back