By Jo Nova
That didn’t take long?
It feels like Net Zero is undergoing a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
Two months ago the UK Prime Minster was going gangbusters. He told the world Britain would go “all out”to accelerate Net Zero, to bolster energy security and weather control, because “it’s in the DNA of my government”. This week, the same Prime Minister says he will save factories by cutting power bills for more than 7,000 of the most energy-intensive businesses “by up to 25%” by slashing net zero charges. So the companies that produce the most CO2 will be excused, because they will go out of business, but the rest of the UK can pay even more, because they aren’t going broke yet.
Speaking of which, industry groups warned a few weeks ago that high electricity costs threatened UK Manufacturing. And five days ago the largest fibreglass factory in the UK announced it would close because of the high electricity prices.
It makes no sense to pretend that a Net Zero economy is a goal to aim for while exempting the highest emitters. Does CO2 matter or doesn’t it? Obviously Net Zero is just the moveable excuse to make the taxes as high as “whatever the market will bear”. Tax ’em til they scream?
The Telegraph team report that UK business pay an eye-watering £258 per MWh in 2023, “compared to £218 in Italy, £178 in France and £177 in Germany”. Companies in the US paid just £65. Wow. But Australian brown coal still bids and wins wholesale electricity auctions in Australia for £5 or £10 a MWh. If the UK invaded Australia (it wouldn’t be hard, just avoid the Virgin flight paths) they could set up a factory next to Loy Yang, and could get the cheapest electricity in the developed world.
I’m old enough to remember April 2025:
Britain will go “all out” for a low-carbon future and accelerate the push to net zero instead of slowing down as some have demanded, the prime minister said on Thursday. In his strongest declaration yet of support for the net zero agenda, Sir Keir Starmer told a conference in London of more than 60 countries that tackling the climate crisis and bolstering energy security were “in the DNA of my government”.
Now in a heroic moment that is a “turning point for the economy”, and “a break, from short-termism” he will slash NetZero taxes:
The marketing word salami is becoming unreal:
Just to correct the Telegraph subheader, the PM is not “cutting power bills” by even one cent. He has not made electricity cheaper, nor increased efficiency, productivity, or competition. He is just cutting his own weather-bending taxes (somewhat).
Some British companies that survive as long as 2027, won’t have pay the net zero levies, like the renewables obligation and the feed-in tariff:
The Telegraph: June 22nd, 2025
Net zero taxes will be slashed for thousands of manufacturers as Sir Keir Starmer scrambles to save British industry from crippling electricity costs.
As part of the Government’s long-awaited Industrial Strategy, the Prime Minister is to cut power bills by up to 25pc for some 7,000 “electricity intensive” manufacturers, including car makers, aircraft factories and chemical plants.
It comes after repeated warnings that British manufacturers are labouring under the highest industrial electricity prices of any developed country, with output down by a third since 2021.
The Prime Minister said: “This Industrial Strategy marks a turning point for Britain’s economy and a clear break from the short-termism and sticking plasters of the past.
Only six months ago at COP29, the UK set a “Shining Example” of 2035 targets — committing to an 81% reduction in emissions by 2035. Back then, just days after Trump was elected, Net Zero was goal for “growth” and a race to “get ahead”:
“Our goal of 1.5°C is aligned with our goals for growth,” Starmer told the global climate conference.
“Because make no mistake, the race is on for the clean energy jobs of the future; the economy of tomorrow. And I don’t want to be in middle of the pack. I want to get ahead of the game.”
What game did he want to be ahead in? Winning at UN Bingo?
A generation from now, we must repeat all these emphatic slippery words in schools so that children grow up learning that politicians can speak 100% fantasies, right up until it all falls over, and even then they won’t stop.