Is Net Zero economic suicide?

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

In July 2019, the Climate Change Act was amended to set a target of ‘net zero’ greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. In 2021, the government announced an interim target of cutting emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

While politicians talk about the need to revive the UK economy, that legal obligation is already being used by environmental organisation to stymie development. For example, in March this year, Friends of the Earth was given permission to take the government to court over its failure to set out how the carbon reduction targets will be met.

For critics of the policy, setting a target in law without new technologies that will allow the economy to grow, carbon-free, is a recipe for disaster. The upshot is bans on gas boilers, petrol-powered cars and more – with no cost-effective alternatives in place as yet. Former Conservative leadership contender Kemi Badenoch ruffled feathers when she said: ‘I believe there is climate change and that’s something we do need to tackle, but we have to do it in a way that doesn’t bankrupt our economy.’

But supporters claim that a new ‘green economy’ will actually mean more jobs and more economic growth than a fossil-fuelled ‘business as usual’, with whole new routes for innovation and enormous work to be done changing society over to a new way of doing things.

Is Net Zero an economic disaster in the making or a vitally important goal that can enable us to remake the UK economy for the twenty-first century?

SPEAKERS
Rabina Khan
writer and commentator; former councillor and special advisor; author, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil

Professor Vicky Pryce
chief economic adviser and board member, Centre for Economics and Business Research; author, Women vs Capitalism

Andy Shaw
co-founder, Comedy Unleashed

James Woudhuysen
visiting professor, forecasting and innovation, London South Bank University

Martin Wright
chair, Positive News; formerly editor-in-chief, Green Futures; former director, Forum for the Future

CHAIR
Rob Lyons
science and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum