Denmark is weighing up extending North Sea oil and gas licences to 2050, beyond the current expiry date of 2042, “to stand on its own two feet”. The Danish government issued a press release this week:
“Europe must be able to stand on its own two feet when it comes to energy supply and security…The government will therefore initiate a process to prepare for a possible extension of one or more licenses with a view to contributing to Europe’s energy supply, security and independence until 2050.”
The Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard added: “I would have preferred that Europe could make do with green energy. But the reality is different, and I fundamentally believe that it is better for Europe to get gas from Denmark than from countries outside our continent.” Miliband might want to take note of that one…
Meanwhile, ministers have been celebrating Ofgem’s £117 cut in the energy price cap, despite this being far from the £150 reduction promised by Reeves in the last budget and still £73 higher than when Labour took office. Drill, baby, drill…
A fresh report by the Institute for Economic Affairs shreds Ed Miliband’s net zero plans. It argues that not drilling in the North Sea alongside Labour’s punitive windfall tax will actually drive up carbon emissions…
The report – authored by energy expert Kathryn Porter – points to the fact that sourcing energy from overseas creates 50% more carbon emissions than if it had been sourced at home according to the Climate Change Committee. It also predicts that the UK will still need around 168 million barrels of oil in 2050 as Britain would still need it for plastics, medicine and fertilisers. And that’s the year Miliband wants to hit net zero…
The Tories have backed the report, with Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho saying:
“We are going to need oil and gas for decades and as much of it as possible should come from Britain. It makes no sense that Labour is choosing to shut down the North Sea and put tens of thousands of jobs at risk just to make us more dependent on foreign imports with higher emissions.”
Read the report in full below:
Continue reading “REPORT: Labour’s Ban on North Sea Oil Drives Up Carbon Emissions”
Donald Trump has shared a few delicate thoughts on Ed Miliband’s net zero deal with California Governor Gavin Newsom. He told POLITICO today:
“The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum… Gavin is a loser. Everything he’s touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster… It is inappropriate for [the UK] to be dealing with him.”
The deal is a memorandum of understanding between the UK and California in which both economies promise to collaborate on green energy technologies like offshore wind. It is also a chance for Newsom to start making powerful new friends ahead of his inevitable 2028 presidential bid, which Miliband was only too happy to oblige. The White House noticed…
Tony Blair has once again turned his fire on Ed Miliband’s net zero policy. The former PM’s think tank the Tony Blair Institute has just released a report saying Clean Power 2030 is no longer “fit for purpose” and urged Miliband to ditch his crackdown on North Sea oil. It would be nice…
The report states:
“If Clean Power 2030 was ever fit for purpose, that is no longer the case…Clean Power 2030 implicitly treats cost as a downstream issue: something that will take care of itself once enough clean capacity has been created. Yet the reality is that if energy becomes too expensive, everything else comes under strain…The reality is that oil and gas will remain part of the UK energy mix for years to come…The UK should therefore pursue policy levers that make the North Sea basin genuinely investible – and that starts with restoring fiscal predictability.”
In another swipe at the government, the think tank adds: “the UK cannot afford to treat domestic production as a moral signal rather than a strategic asset.” This is the third intervention from Blair in less than a year. Labour again being panned by their own…
A fresh Prosperity Institute report titled ‘It’s Broke, Fix It’ authored by energy analyst Rupert Darwall lays out why Miliband’s DESNZ should be abolished and replaced in order to bring down energy bills. Remember when Labour promised to bring them down by £300? That’s gone with the wind…
It also calls for a clear-out of energy regulator Ofgem, separate climate policy from energy policy as well as establishing a New Generation taskforce to replace around 20GW of missing dispatchable capacity. The report is backed by Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho:
“Since the mid-2000s, the British people have been promised something that seemed too good to be true: a swiftly delivered green energy sector built on solar and wind power that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce our carbon emissions and energy bills at the same time… The trouble is, it was too good to be true.”
It ain’t easy being green…
Read the report in full below:
Continue reading “Tories Back Proposal to Abolish Miliband’s Energy & Net Zero Department”
Trump’s speech in Davos took aim at the crisis of the UK’s electricity supply:
“The United Kingdom produces just one third of the total energy from all sources than it did in 1999. They’re sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. But they don’t use it. And that’s one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels, with equally high prices… They are sitting on top of the North Sea – one of the greatest reserves in the world, they take 92% of the revenues… they make it impossible to drill.”
This is on the same day that Miliband announces more taxpayer subsidies for heat pumps and solar panels. It is a conscious choice of Labour to starve Britain’s sovereign energy resources to death…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”