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More Climate-Carbon Claptrap from the Land of King Canute
Tough new targets on tackling climate change will cost Britain £500 a year per household, push up utility bills and force 1.7million Britons into fuel poverty by 2020. The grim predictions came from independent Government advisers yesterday as they set targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The influential panel led by millionaire business guru Adair Turner wants the UK to cut levels by up to 42 per cent within 12 years. A report from the Committee on Climate Change said the sacrifice would be worth it ‘given the consequences and higher costs of not acting’. It admitted that shifting to a ‘low carbon economy’ could cost 1 per cent of gross domestic product – the equivalent of £14billion a year or £500 per household – by 2020.
However, expert Bjorn Lomborg described the targets as ‘wishful thinking’ as the UK has managed to reduce emissions by just 3.6 per cent since 1990. He also questioned whether other countries would follow Britain’s lead. Mr Lomborg, a Danish academic and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, said: ‘The price tag by the committee’s own estimate could reach £14billion annually but the effect would be minuscule. ‘Climate models show that the impact up to 2030 would mean the UK would help reduce the global temperature increase by about one three thousandth of a degree Celsius by the end of the century. ‘An economic analysis would indicate that the UK, for every pound spent, would only do about 4p worth of good for the climate. By any standard, this appears to be a gigantic waste.’
Daily Mail: ‘Climate change targets could push up household bills to £500 a year, says Government chief’
Committee on Climate Change: Press Release: ‘CCC recommends a minimum 34% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, with a 42% cut if a global deal is achieved’
Bishop Hill: ‘More on the Green Alliance’