After 30 years of utopian green dreaming Europe’s energy policy blown to smithereens

4) Senior government official: Western countries could look into reviewing their Net Zero policy
Daily Express, 7 March 2022

A senior Government source has stated Western countries could look into reviewing their net zero policy, as one of the ways to become less reliant on Russia.

BORIS JOHNSON was warned over the UK’s reliance on gas imported from Russia, amid the war in Ukraine, and a need for the country to become more energy secure.

With energy bills soaring in the country after the cap on energy prices was raised by Ofgem and inflation spiked, the Government now is faced with potential deductions in the exported amounts of gas from Russia.

A senior Government source has stated Western countries could look into reviewing their net zero policy, as one of the ways to become less reliant on Russia.

Speaking to Politico’s London Playbook, the source said that observers “could expect to hear a lot more about Western countries giving themselves a temporary ‘climate change pass’,” due to the developments in Ukraine.

However, the source noted that Britain is not as dependent as others on Russian energy.

Reviewing the agenda around the net zero policy is a prospect supported by backbench Tory MPs, members of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), who are calling for the ban on fracking to be lifted.

At the same time, political analyst Joe Armitage, with an article in the Telegraph, suggested that a reduction in Russian gas exports could bring energy prices to a new “eye-watering” high.

According to the analyst, this is mainly due to the UK’s exposure to wholesale energy prices.

Mr Armitage said: “As a result of Europe’s over-dependence on Russian gas, any material curtailment of its supply to the continent would result in a significant scramble to buy Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from the United States and Qatar.

“This would have to be purchased on the wholesale market at a huge cost.

In his article, Mr Armitage outlined a three-step plan that the Government should implement.

Mr Armitage suggested that his plan would assist in reducing the country’s exposure to wholesale energy prices.

Ultimately, the Government would be able to bring bills under control and become more energy secure.

Initially, according to Mr Armitage, the Government should increase the volume of gas extracted in UK waters.

The analyst claims that the recent approval of six new licences for extraction in the North Sea were encouraging.

However, he noted: “A greater sense of mission is required to meet the scale of the deteriorating situation.

“Every sinew should be strained in Whitehall to issue more of them, which could be made conditional on a proportion of the gas extracted from new fields being earmarked for the UK.”

In addition, Mr Armitage highlighted the additional costs placed on energy bills as “no longer sustainable”.

He said that this includes the environmental, social, and VAT costs, which now amount for 30 percent of an average electricity bill and 7 percent for a gas bill.

Tory MPs are urging Boris Johnson to dramatically ramp up the UK’s domestic gas production and to re-examine his Net Zero by 2050 plan after the Ukraine crisis rocked energy markets.

Conservative backbenchers believe the Russian invasion has ‘materially changed’ the energy picture and ministers should be doing ‘everything we can to produce as much energy domestically as possible’.

Tory MPs are pushing the Government to increase the UK’s production of oil and gas, and to reverse a moratorium it has placed on domestic fracking.

Mr Johnson reportedly believes the West should be given a temporary ‘climate change pass’ and increase its production of gas to rob Vladimir Putin of the energy ‘leverage’ he has over Europe.

A Government source told The Times: ‘The Prime Minister has been very clear that one of the massive problems is the leverage that Putin has over a number of European countries over gas and oil.

‘We have to address this over the short term, mid term and long term. The Prime Minister is interested in giving the gas industry a climate pass in the transition to nuclear and renewables.’

Another source told Politico that countries could give themselves a ‘pass’ which would see them temporarily ‘easing off Net Zero’ targets.

The UK has committed to hitting Net Zero emissions by 2050 and there have been no signs the Government is poised to relax or scrap the target – despite mounting pressure from Tory MPs for a rethink.

The Ukraine crisis is expected to worsen the cost of living crisis in the UK which was already spiraling before Russia launched its invasion.

Mr Johnson is under growing pressure from Conservative MPs to boost the UK’s domestic energy production to ease pressure on households.

Some Tory MPs want the Government to reverse its opposition to commercial fracking so the UK can exploit its shale gas reserves and reduce reliance on foreign gas supplies.

Nearly 40 MPs and peers in the Tory Net Zero Security Group are writing to the Prime Minister to urge him to stop the UK’s only two shale gas wells being concreted over within the next ten days.

Craig Mackinlay, chairman of the group – which was set up to scrutinise the Government’s plans to hit climate change targets – called on Mr Johnson to pause an Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) order that the two sites in Lancashire be plugged by March 15.

Tory MPs have warned the ban on fracking is ‘total lunacy’ in the light of the events in Ukraine.

Marcus Fysh told MailOnline: ‘The situation has materially changed and we need to do everything we can to produce as much energy domestically as possible, including relatively clean fossil fuel energy such as gas.’

Mr Fysh said the Government’s Net Zero plan must be ‘looked at again’ to take into account the impact of the Ukraine crisis on energy markets.

Former minister Steve Baker said: ‘Even with our Net Zero transition we will be burning gas for years.

‘We should be doing everything we can with the vigour of a national war effort to make sure that gas is not Putin’s.’

There have been some suggestions in Whitehall that the Government could pump more oil and gas from the North Sea but Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is opposed to such a move.

Tory former minister John Redwood told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme that the UK should boost its domestic gas production.

He said: ‘I agree with the European Union and other advocates of the green transition that gas is the transition fuel, better than coal for example.

‘And you have to accept that this is going to be the decade of gas. We are not ready yet to have enough renewables in a form that can work for industry and heating homes because people haven’t installed electric heating, they haven’t bought electric vehicles.

‘So this decade we still need to be able to fuel the vehicles and fuel the homes and fuel industry above all that relies very heavily on gas.

‘I am putting in this plea that we can both collect a lot more tax and create less CO2 if we have more of our own gas. It seems a very easy proposition and some of that could be on-shore.’

Mr Johnson is facing growing political pressure over the Government’s Net Zero push amid fears the green drive will hit consumers in the pocket.

Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader, recently announced he is launching a political movement to campaign for a referendum on the policy.

6) Boris Johnson’s call to relax green target
The Times, 7 March 2022

Boris Johnson believes the West should be given a “climate change pass” to help wean the EU off Russian gas supplies as he faces mounting pressure over the government’s 2050 net-zero target.

The Times has been told that Johnson wants the West, particularly the US and Canada, to ramp up its own production of gas to help remove the “massive leverage” Russia has over EU countries.

While retaining the government’s target, Johnson is understood to believe that western countries should be able to increase gas production during the transition to nuclear and renewables. It came as Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, announced that he is launching a political movement to campaign for a referendum on the net-zero policy.

A government source said: “The prime minister has been very clear that one of the massive problems is the leverage that Putin has over a number of European countries over gas and oil.

“We have to address this over the short term, mid term and long term. The prime minister is interested in giving the gas industry a climate pass in the transition to nuclear and renewables.” Johnson hinted at the approach during an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and the German publication Die Welt last week.

“We need a collective European strategy and a western strategy to diversify away from this dependence,” he said. “There are other sources . . . in North America, in Canada, in the Gulf.”

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, suggested at the G7 meeting in Brussels on Friday that a ceiling be imposed on imports of Russian coal, oil and gas which comes down over time. She believes that the “long-term defence of freedom is worth short-term economic pain”.

Germany gets two thirds of its gas from Russia. It recently announced that it is shelving the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

In The Mail on Sunday, Farage announced a campaign group, Britain Means Business. He said: “Without any debate, our energy bills have been loaded with green subsidies. Our businesses have been disadvantaged, yet our leaders seem happy to outsource industrial production just as long as they can say it reduces CO2 emissions.

“We will campaign for the 5 per cent VAT on energy bills to be removed.

“Green subsidies are shovelled straight into the bank accounts of rich landowners, wealthy investors and foreign-owned conglomerates who own much of the renewable energy sector.” Many Tory MPs have significant concerns about the cost of net zero.

Thirty-four Tory MPs urged the prime minister to reverse plans to seal two shale gas wells, insisting that Britain must secure its energy independence. Cuadrilla is due to concrete over its wells in Lancashire on March 15.

In their letter to Johnson, the MPs state: “We urge you to pause and conduct a review. At a time of such geopolitical strife, we cannot refrain from actions that would improve the position of the UK and its allies. We have seen how a reliance on imported gas affects the responses of other countries during the initial stages of Russian aggression.” The intervention was organised by Craig Mackinlay and Steve Baker of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group.

Full story

8) Steve Hilton: How orgy of green virtue-signalling lined Putin’s pocket
Daily Mail, 7 March 2022

By Steve Hilton, Former Director of Strategy for David Cameron

Politicians from all parties have indulged in an orgy of green virtue-signalling, implementing self-harming, counter-productive policies such as Boris Johnson’s ban on fracking for shale gas, with no serious thought given to the long-term consequences.

Europe’s dependence on Russia for around 40 per cent of the continent’s gas supplies isn’t some kind of natural phenomenon; it’s a conscious political choice.

As recently as 2010, EU countries actually produced more gas than Russia exported.

But, by 2020, the positions had completely reversed, with Russia exporting nearly three times more gas than Europe produced. Why? Because, being in thrall to the green dogma that has captured the Establishment the world over, European countries cut back on fossil-fuel production.

Energy security was sacrificed on the altar of ‘decarbonisation’ – even if that meant reducing production and the storage of reliable lower-carbon energy sources such as natural gas, or most preposterously, a policy towards zero-carbon nuclear power, which meant it was completely shut down in Germany and left to atrophy in the UK.

Of course none of this is to argue against the environmental cause: After all, I was the author of David Cameron’s ‘Vote Blue Go Green’ message.

A sensible environmentalism, with a focus on conservation and a responsibly managed transition to cleaner energy – in particular one that protects consumers from soaring bills – is something most people would support. However, that’s far from what we’ve seen.

Instead, politicians from all parties have indulged in an orgy of green virtue-signalling, implementing self-harming, counter-productive policies such as Boris Johnson’s ban on fracking for shale gas, with no serious thought given to the long-term consequences.

In truth, it’s even more cynical than that. Desperate to win the plaudits of green activists, these politicians recklessly cut back on their own countries’ energy production and filled the gap not with the much-vaunted ‘wind ‘n solar’ (both are too unreliable), but by importing dirtier fuels from other countries (such as Russia) that are unencumbered by the ‘climate’ zealotry relentlessly pushed by pressure groups and some in the media in the West.

Even more embarrassingly for our idiotic establishment, it turns out that those activists and their media campaigns have been funded by – wait for it – Putin!

That’s not some wild conspiracy theory: It’s Nato’s view.

Former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in 2014: ‘Russia, as part of its sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations – environmental organisations working against shale gas – to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas.’

And, in the same year, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about ‘phony environment groups funded by Russians to stand against’ energy initiatives such as fracking. In sum, Western leaders handed Putin massive geo-political leverage by making their people dependent on his gas – and were responding to activist campaigns that he had partly funded. How utterly perverse!

And look where that leaves us today. Even as Putin unleashes hell on innocent Ukrainians; as we witness scenes of inhumanity of a nature and on a scale not seen in Europe since the Second World War…

Putin’s oil and gas now flows uninterrupted to Europe, while £500million flows uninterrupted every day from Europe to Russia to pay for it. After the invasion, the amount of Russian gas exported to Europe through Ukraine actually went up – by 38 per cent. The price has since risen further, adding to the money ending up in Kremlin coffers.

So, when our leaders say ‘we’re doing everything we can to help Ukraine’, that’s a lie.

Rather than weaning ourselves off Russia’s oil and gas, we are funding Putin’s war machine. And we’re doing so because a bunch of pompous politicians, puffed up with pretensions of saving the planet, wanted pats on the back from extremist ‘climate’ zealots.

Ever since taking over the White House, President Joe Biden has fought a non-stop war on American energy production.

Under his predecessor President Donald Trump’s strong support for domestic natural gas production, the US achieved an enviable double whammy. It became self-sufficient (and, indeed, a net exporter for the first time in more than 70 years), as well as reducing carbon emissions.

By contrast, Biden has shut pipelines, withdrawn exploration licences, and most shockingly, at the exact moment he and his officials were talking up ‘massive sanctions’ against Putin if he went ahead with the invasion that they said was certain to happen, another part of Biden’s administration announced new regulations that would give Putin even more leverage over global energy supplies.

In the name of fighting climate change, Biden refuses to increase US production, which might give supplies to Europe to help it escape Putin’s energy stranglehold (as well as lowering prices for consumers in America).

Biden’s administration, instead, is begging Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to produce more oil and are even finalising a revived Iran nuclear deal that will put Iranian oil into the world market.

The US President’s new ‘climate’ policy seems to be: Oil is good, unless it’s American. In normal circumstances this could be dismissed as mere political hypocrisy and double-speak.

But we’re not in normal circumstances. We’re in the middle of the most threatening conflict in Europe since 1945 and could be on the brink of nuclear confrontation.

It is therefore unconscionable that Western politicians are not doing everything in their power to stop Putin. Of course there is no guarantee that a total boycott of Russian energy would change this evil tyrant’s calculations. But it is truly revolting that our leaders are not even trying.

For all their noble words about standing up for Ukraine, their obsession with net zero and continuing willingness to pay Moscow £500million a day makes them Putin’s stooges and enablers of the horror unfolding before our eyes.