Net Zero Watch has published two significant new reports which together argue that Net Zero is destined to fail because it depends on a model of central planning that cannot work and on thermodynamically inferior energy sources that cannot sustain the needs of the British economy.
In Net Zero and the Threat to Human Liberty, former Conservative MP and minister Rt Hon Steve Baker FRSA shows that Net Zero relies on the same central-planning model that failed repeatedly in the 20th century and consistently produced social, economic and political breakdown. He argues this failure is inherent: no group of officials, however capable, can ever possess the knowledge needed to run a complex society and advances in information technology do nothing to change that reality. As a result, enforcing Net Zero through state direction poses a direct and growing threat to peoples’ liberty in modern Britain.
In Powering Freedom: The Thermodynamic Roots of Modernity, Professor John Constable, Director of the Future of Energy Institute at the University of Austin in Texas, shows that the defining achievements of modernity – our social, cultural and economic complexity, our dramatic expansion of wealth creation and our unprecedented level of personal freedom – were only made possible because high-quality, dense fuels unlocked a vast surplus of usable energy. This surplus enlarged our physical liberty, the practical freedom to act in the world, as well as making us tolerant of each other’s success, giving rise to the modern West as we know it.
Dr Constable argues that wind and solar, by contrast, are thermodynamically low-quality, low productivity sources that drag societies back towards lower growth, greater fragility and renewed economic power for those who own the energy sector. Drawing on historical data, he warns that Britain’s energy policy means we now face a stark choice: distressed policy correction resuming consumption of fossil fuels to protect remaining wealth and freedom, or a continuation of wind and solar bringing a painful reversion to the illiberal social structures of the pre-fossil past.
The publication of these reports comes as Net Zero Watch releases new Deltapoll research showing that the public increasingly recognises these inherent challenges created by the UK government’s Net Zero agenda.
Key findings include:
Public understanding of Net Zero and confidence in government
- 52 percent of the public blame high energy bills and food prices for the high cost of living.
- Just 41 percent of the public say they feel confident to say they understand what Net Zero means.
- When shown a range of different definitions, 40 percent of the public were unable to select the correct term describing Net Zero. 10 percent thought it meant reducing inflation to zero and 7 percent thought it meant significantly cutting migration levels.
- 48 percent of the public say they are not confident at all or not very confident that the Government will deliver Net Zero on time – with just 19 percent expressing confidence.
- When asked what the Government’s top priority for energy policy should be, voters overwhelmingly choose secure and reliable supply (37 percent) and keeping costs down (36 percent). Just 13 percent said we should be meeting the Net Zero target as quickly as possible.
Perceived impact on personal freedom
- 52 percent of the public say they would feel less free if driving for leisure and holidays became more expensive and prohibitive.
- 51 percent said they would feel less free if meat and dairy products became more expensive and prevented them from consuming them.
- 50 percent said heating their home to the temperature they want became too expensive.
Dr John Constable, author of Powering Freedom: The Thermodynamic Roots of Modernity, said: “The freedoms we take for granted today are derived from the remarkable thermodynamic properties and productivity of fossil fuels. They not only expanded our physical liberty, but from the mid-17th century onwards allowed Western civilisation to develop its extraordinary complexity and resilience, as well as the mutual tolerance of free action that we call liberty. Net Zero fundamentally turns this logic on its head. It asks us to run an advanced society on disordered, low-quality energy sources such as wind and solar that have only ever delivered fragile societies and all too brief episodes of wealth and liberty. If we persist, we should expect a poorer, weaker, and much less tolerant Britain.”
Steve Baker, author of Net Zero and the Threat to Human Liberty, said: “Economic central planning has always failed and Net Zero rests upon it. No government, even a capable one, can acquire the knowledge required to direct our lives and investments. The consequences are predictable: declining prosperity, growing coercion and ever more difficulty pursuing happiness.”
