Western Morning News (Saturday)
Fossil fuels still a vital energy source
Can we really hit net zero by 2050? Ian L Handford says it’s now unrealistic
DRAMATICALLY cutting global carbon emissions by 2050, as suggested by the aspirations to reach net zero at the Glasgow Cop26 Conference last October, was always going to be a challenge. The war in Ukraine and other pressures on energy may have put it out of reach.
The UK Government has recently set up a “Energy Task Force” to create what it calls a “transitional period to boost British energy requirements in the wake of the Russian/ Ukrainian war”, whilst trying also to keep our household energy costs down.
Insiders are now admitting the focus on decarbonisation by 2050 might have to be dropped or revised. We in Britain are far less reliant on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for our oil and gas. Many countries in Europe are at his mercy when it comes to energy.
I have always believed it was ridiculous to sign up to the idea of banning petrol and diesel fuel for new vehicles, yet some countries around the world have said they will do so by 2030. Now the war, along with the pressures on the economy as the world comes out of the coronavirus pandemic, have made that all the more difficult.
Already voices are being raised in an effort to give Britain greater control over its energy supplies. Forty members of a Tory Net Zero Security Group have written to the Prime Minister, urging him to reopen our last two shale gas wells. Such a move could bring hopes of cheaper energy in the UK. Fracking has already proved a great success in the United States.
On April 22 it is Earth Day when over a billion people in 140 countries take part in schemes to reduce pollution and protect the planet. Although our government is still committed to the international Green Climate Change agenda, many officials are now privately expressing concern about the 2050 deadline for hitting net zero. The commitment to eliminate fossil fuels by using renewables has still not been signed up to by China, India and Australia. They will continue to rely on burning coal for decades to come.
While a senior Whitehall Civil Servant was forced to insist that “the Net Zero 2050 target has not been scrapped and is still the ultimate goal”, he also added an important caveat to the effect that in the short term, the focus will shift to a continuing reliance on fossil fuels “to ease the pain on British households”.
This whole debate has turned into what I knew as “government speak” when lobbying in London for the Federation of Small Businesses. The commitment to alternatives like wind, hydroelectric, solar, nuclear and even hydrogen power will never completely replace oil and gas energy, whereas fracking to produce shale gas might be a way forward.
The new energy task force has experts that are “empowered to cut through Civil Service red-tape”, bringing HM Treasury, planning departments and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Departments together to try and achieve the goals set. Not long ago another consultation resulted in a Government 10-point list being created for the Green Industrial Revolution after the Glasgow Climate Pact of 200 countries. The list included every sort of energy, from wind, solar, hydrogen, hydroelectric and nuclear to make us “greener”.
Its purpose on that occasion was to make the UK completely carbonfree, and Government committed £4billion while expressing a hope that even more cash would be forthcoming through the private sector. Sceptics thought that whatever the matching of money was, it would still fall short of the real need. A significant part of the plan was the commitment to small nuclear reactors, coming from Rolls-Royce in partnership with a consortium of British businesses to produce modular reactors for assembly on a factory line basis, as early as 2025.
Gas turbine and nuclear plants – with a lifespan of up to 50 years – are a better long term bet to keep the lights on. Yet just last week the Business Secretary Kwasi-Kwarteng stated he hoped to increase onshore wind farms by relaxing “planning laws.” There is even talk of compulsory purchase orders to acquire the land for huge new solar farms. The UK energy crisis is far from easing and the Climate Change Levy is here for good.
Ian L Handford is former Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses.
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