The Tories come out as PRO climate change

[noblegiraffe]

WTF. A series of policy announcements that position the Tories as pro-climate change because they think it won them Uxbridge?

This tweet by Grant Shapps announcing new gas and oil licenses to spite Just Stop Oil is just gobsmackingly awful.

It's not Just Stop Oil who are saying that we can't do this, it's international experts.

"Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director and one of the world’s foremost energy economists, told the Guardian: “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year.” And that was 2021.

While we watch mainland Europe experience terrible wildfires and storms, with the memory of our own awful heat wave last year fresh in our minds, the government comes up with what they think are funny tweets about how the UK is going to actively contribute to a worsening crisis?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-investment-in-fossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist

Chris Skidmore, a Tory MP who actually cares about climate change has issued a statement condemning this policy being announced while parliament is on recess and has called for an emergency debate. https://twitter.com/cskidmoreuk/status/1685948524033130498?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

Their defence is "we will import this stuff so might as well produce locally....." but surely we should be trying to reduce oil/gas consumption?

Plus, as we don't store gas, we'll export in the summer and import as before in the winter....

Labours policy is much different, they will honour these 100s of licences, if they came out otherwise, companies wouldn't take advantage of this relaxation in policy.

We are fucked, many countries are looking to increase fossil fuel production.

I think this sums it up

That would be more accurate if the melting dog was saying 'haha, in your FACE Just Stop Oil!!!'

Who the fuck are they appealing to with this sort of spiteful announcement? I know loads of people who disagree with the tactics of Just Stop Oil but who are still concerned about climate change.

What is a real cost affective to oil and gas at this time? No renewable energy gives the same at the moment,

Well there is an argument to say that energy SHOULD be produced locally where it can, especially gas. If all coal burning was replaced with gas it would reduce greenhouse emissions by something like 40-50% straight away. Additionally, the movement of energy takes a great deal of, well, energy. If we need gas or coal and we don’t produce it, we have to ship it in. That’s more carbon created.

The fact is we CAN’T just stop burning fossil fuels- many hundreds of millions would die this winter globally if people couldn’t burn fuel to heat their homes. So either start from the premise that you can’t reduce energy output, and need to either a) make it more efficient and/or b) make it less carbon producing. The only viable baseload method of producing sufficient energy that won’t generate vast quantities of carbon emissions is nuclear. So…all aboard the turtle (nuclear) train…

Stop oil and gas and most climate activists just sound like the boss who brings you some work at 4pm and just tells you it’s got to be done by five to five with out an idea or extra labour or resources to carry out the task

This is simply untrue. Wind power is the cheapest source of electricity in the UK, and the UK has a huge potential resource for it.

Why, just why? Is it because we're having a wet July in the UK, the Gov thinks it's a good time to put this out? Seriously? Look at the wildfires, the excess heat, just in the Med. Think of your holidays in the Med, if nothing else, government in power!

Please show us your plans for more wind farms, tidal power, electric car plants, home insulation programmes. Think outside the box. Be remembered as visionaries. Challenge these dinosaurs. Please. Be more Rachel Carson.

New oil and gas licenses do not mean for or against climate change. Oil and gas wells are not infinite and bottomless, they do run dry. Since 1973 we have been actively reducing both our production and consumption of oil as part of efforts to combat global warming. It is also important to note that in the case of oil, there are literally thousands of uses for it that do not contribute to climate change at all. So we will always need some oil even when at net zero.

From an all time high of 2,74700 BBL/D in January of 1985, we have cut oil production by a whopping 73% to 751 BBL/D in March of 2023.

We are weaning ourselves off oil as a fossil fuel. Our consumption reached an all-time high of 2,228 BBL/D in 1973 and is currently at 1,317 BBL/D

As you can see, we can produce quite a bit more oil and still be reducing our dependence on oil as part of the weaning process. We would only be reducing our reliance on the import of oil, and guess what domestically produced oil has a lower carbon footprint than imported barrels of crude oil.

So these licenses are actually part of fighting climate change once you look at the data underpinning them.

We have also been reducing our GHG emissions to fight climate change much faster than the vast majority of other countries on the planet. So while the process is slow, we are not moving slower than average.

So these licenses are actually part of fighting climate change once you look at the data underpinning them.

Do you think that Grant Shapps addressed people’s legitimate concerns around the new oil and gas licenses, going against the recommendation of international experts, when he said it was govt policy to spite Just Stop Oil?

If all coal burning was replaced with gas it would reduce greenhouse emissions by something like 40-50% straight away.

The U.K. has been replacing the burning of coal and oil with gas since 1990.
Then since 2005, the U.K. has been working on replacing all fossil fuels and nuclear with renewables like wind, solar, hydropower and bio energy.
Currently over half our energy now comes from renewables, we passed that landmark only just last year and are steaming ahead.

Indeed we are- last year I believe the UK ran 3 days entirely on renewables. And that’s great, but there was a week last year when the wind stopped blowing and there were power shortages..base load electricity comes from sources like burning fossil fuels, hydroelectric or nuclear. Chooooooose! Renewables are great but if the sun stops shining or the wind stops blowing you’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

No, I don’t think Grant Schapps was able to counter the persuasive propaganda of JSO. The new oil and gas licenses do not go against the advice of international experts, their advice is no new investments, as in no increase in burning fossil fuels because we must reduce the burning of fossil fuels as that is what causes climate change. The experts are talking globally too as many countries ARE making new investments in fossil fuels to INCREASE their production and consumption of them.

However, as we have seen, new U.K. licenses are not a new investment and do not mean an increase in burning oil, but a continuation of a reduction in burning oil while making the oil we do use have a lower carbon footprint by reducing our reliance on imports. So we, the U.K., are not going against the advice of international experts.

It is JSO and suchlike quoting the experts out of context that gives you the impression we are.

You are simply wrong. Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels in almost all applications.

It's really not hard to fact check yourself,.

I think we just need to accept that climate change will cost us dear. Whether that's through mitigation measures (cheaper) or dealing with the consequences of climate change (more expensive). Net zero will not cost net zero. I suppose if you're old, you can ignore climate change, vote against any mitigation measures and just die before the worse affects hit. Or, very conveniently, just not believe the science.

Could tidal power solve this? The sea never stops coming in and out.

@Kendodd yes it does, four times a day (on average).

Tidal power is only practical in a very few niche sites. Tide mills have been around since pre Roman times.

Even worse was Sunak's interview on BBC Scotland. Asked if it made sense that he would take a private jet to a green energy meeting, he said something like, oh you want to stop people taking holidays then.

The Tories are desperate and chasing any votes they can, Uxbridge has sent them down this path and unfortunately Labour are not much better, e.g. pressuring Sadiq Khan to roll back environmental policies for electoral purposes.

We're all fucked, honestly.

They know they are going to lose the next election and just trying to make a few £££ whilst they can.

Also, how on earth is grant shapps so senior when he is so gormless in every cabinet role he does??

This is the Tories chasing the "anti-woke" vote.

They don't give a shit either way about climate change, only that they to stay in power and continue asset stripping the country

And Uxbridge was about cars. Not about all green policies. Why are the Labour Party unable to see this?

I wouldn't bet on it- they could win and there will be riots if they do.

Yes, but that tells nothing like the full story.

It is cheaper to generate renewable energy once everything is up and running, but the up front investment is far, far higher and is impossible without massive subsidies, paid for by a levy on our energy bills.

Also, even though it's cheaper to generate, customers are still paying the same for it as for gas generated electricity. We also have to pay constraint payments as compensation for energy that is generated but can't be uploaded onto the grid.

It's interesting that Tony Blair is now supporting the 'net zero, but not at any cost' line now, it's not only the Tories. He wouldn't be supporting that line without proper research and polling.

Energy security matters too and is part of the mix. We don’t want to rely on other ( possibly hostile) countries for our energy plus it just outsources the emissions to another country.

The thing with the Tories is they have no principles on anything. They'll do anything to win if they think it can help.