That 10 point plan for the climate ... some cautionary notes from me ... (thread)
1/10 Quadruple offshore wind - great, a target, with a deadline, and building on past trends. But nothing about cheaper onshore wind - a huge missed opportunity.
2/10 5GW of low carbon hydrogen capacity. Exaggerated and poorly targeted. Hydrogen is a niche measure for some hard-to-decarbonise uses. As a mainstream energy vector its another 'technology of prevarication' putting off systemic change.
3/10 'Advancing' Nuclear. How many times has this technology of prevarication been tried and failed in the UK? What will be different this time to overcome crippling costs and public unpopularity?
4/10 Electric vehicles. All new vehicles to be electric from 2030. Will this fare better than 2008's promise that all new buildings will be zero carbon from 2016? Let's hope so, especially as EVs can probably do more for energy storage than hydrogen.
5/10 Public transport, cycling and walking, motherhood and apple-pie ;-) Especially in the face of COVID-inspired behaviour change, this is just waffle. How about taking 50% of road space in cities from cars and dedicating it to walking, cycling and public transport?
6/10 Zero-emissions planes and ships. All very worthy, but offers an excuse for allowing continued growth in aviation, and expansion of airports.
7/10 Greener buildings. Not even resurrecting the 2008 pledge, and a heat-pumps target, which, while welcome, would still take over 20 years to complete the transition.
8/10 Carbon capture. Another promise that we've heard time and time again. The archetypal technology of prevarication, always promised, never delivered, while decarbonization by other means languishes.
9/10 Nature. Looking forward to measures with real teeth to protect habitats and species - especially peatlands & saltmarshes which hold lots of carbon. Existing tree-planting targets stimulated planting in the wrong places, and last year planting fell 70% short of the target.
10/10 Innovation and finance. An important area. Will the Government support divestment and stock-market rules that prevent climate-trashing investments, as well as supporting new innovations?
Conclusion: So, there's a lot more detail needed before we can conclude that this 'plan' will lead to decarbonization, or even whether it is on balance going to lead us in the right direction.
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