‘Net zero cheaper than fossil fuels’
DAVID Nixon is wrong to say that poor people around the world will suffer because of the green agenda (Sentinel, November 19).
Those relying on coal, for example, will not suddenly be stopped from using it. It is a matter of phasing it out and the quicker this happens the cheaper it will be.
There is no longer any doubt that phasing out all fossil fuels is in everyone’s economic interests.
The International Renewable Energy Agency reported last year that longterm ‘renewables would bring cost savings of $156bn to emerging economies’ and ‘low-cost renewables give developed and developing countries a strong business case to pass coal in pursuit of a net zero economy’.
It is a matter of public and private investment and technology.
The International Energy Agency report of 2020 says the competitiveness of low-carbon technologies is increasing and that includes the costs of building the new sources of energy, variability of wind and solar and the costs of energy storage.
By the way, solar energy works by daylight even
when it is not sunny and the technology for storage is constantly improving.
As to the poorest people using wood, the carbon emissions from that is very much less than from coal and they can plant a tree for each that is cut down, so David should not suggest them switching to coal.
Coal is now the most polluting of all fuels and soon becoming the most
costly, even more costly than nuclear as the Australians are now realising.
It’s a matter of helping the poorer countries find the means to invest in the right kind of renewables and develop their poorest people.
Contrary to David’s letter, on September 13, the Natural History Museum published a commissioned report saying across the world ‘Net zero is cheaper and greener than continuing the use of fossil fuels’.
NIGEL JONES
NEWCASTLE