The Climate Change Act at Ten: History’s Most Expensive Virtue Signal
Bottom Line: The Climate Change Act (CCA) represents a colossal, inexcusable blunder by Britain’s governing class. The official impact assessment is that the CCA will cost hundreds of billions of pounds. But, if Germany’s experience is anything to go by, the final price tag could easily cross the trillion pound mark. Whereas Germany, once Europe’s climate leader, has seen sense and run up the white flag on aggressive decarbonization, Britain is tied to the mast of climate unilateralism. Considering Paris and the other recent climate agreements, absent effective action globally, the economic case for the CCA disappears.
Britain’s CCA was aimed at turning the country into a climate leader and demonstrate its green virtue to the rest of the world. The price tag, however, continues to surge pass all expectations by increasing energy costs for both families and businesses.
Indeed, the burden of climate leadership is not borne by those who flatter themselves as planetary saviors, but in higher energy costs that hit business competitiveness, squeeze household budgets and fall most heavily on the poorest in society. Fiddling the measure of fuel poverty reveals the underlying morality of the CCA; to sacrifice the poor for the sake of climate theology.
Britain’s unilateralism approach on climate policy is unrealistic since climate change by definition is global issue.
As we have seen with other "climate agreements," the architecture of the Paris Agreement is based on weak-form voluntary altruism that, far from tackling the free rider problem, encourages it. As the CCA impact assessment points out, absent effective action globally, the economic case for the CCA disappears.
Yet, there is perhaps at least one positive thing that can be said for the CCA: ten years on, the CCA has achieved its purpose in making the UK an example to the rest of the world – no other serious country will do anything quite so stupid in the name of saving the climate.
Read the full study here.
Global Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2000–17
Findings:
• Britain’s Climate Change Act is a colossal blunder, and the costs of it continue to surge for families and businesses – far higher than what was previously forecast.
• The CCA is an unrealistic and unfair unilateral approach that damages Britain while allowing other CO2 emitters a free ride.
• The one positive that could result is that other nations see the folly of the CAA and utilize a much different path.
Read the full study here.
