I believe that the current western nations focus on climate policies is the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the wealthy since the industrial revolution.
I will state up front, I believe in climate change, as a past agriculturist, climate (in the form of rain on no rain, heat and frost) was critical to our business, and to this end, I focused on historical fluctuations in climate to try to predict future events (I was not so successful in this matter). However, it gave me an insight into how climate (the heating and cooling of our planet) changes over time and the earth’s climate has been hotter and colder than it is today
With reference to my opening statement, think about it, who can afford electric vehicles at 2 or three times the price of a small 4 cyl petrol, or energy prices increasing at up to 37% annually (note the current serious problems in Europe where they still have not reached 50%). Who can install solar panels or batteries on their homes and then afford to replace them every 10 to 15 years as they reach their use by date?
Certainly not families on $70K to $100K gross income when they have to pay $700 to $800 per week in rent, put food on the table and pay for their children’s “free” education and then try to factor in a couple of weeks annual holiday. This does not include the financial impost of childcare if they have to have double incomes to meet their financial needs and running a car.
The other factor is western countries are exporting their carbon footprint. There have been a number of journalists (who are more expert in research than me) who have rightly pointed out that while western countries have reduced their internal carbon footprint, they have in actual fact significantly increase their carbon output by exporting the manufacture of their consumer goods to countries like China and India.
What this has done is exported our manufacturing industries to these countries. This has greatly exasperated the recent supply-chain issues. This has caused a manufacturing sovereign risk that will further accelerate the exporting of our manufacturing industries, as we press headlong to renewables.
So, my question is, where are the jobs going to come from as we import more and more of our consumer goods; what happens if we have more supply chain interruptions that last longer, who will manufacture the parts to replace our solar panels wind turbines or lithium batteries.
The people who are champions for net zero policies (and here I will generalise) are a demographic that have incomes that are well in excess of the average income, live in central large urban centres such as capital cities and are not reliant on the manufacturing of a product or exporting. They probably are employed in financial or professional services (not associated with manufacturing or exporting), employed in industries that have a history of Rent Seeking or employed by big business that want to be seen to be socially responsible.
This is why I believe we need to consider all the costs and benefits that will result from changing our energy mix before other countries even start on reducing their reliance on fossil fuel energy production, and explore all potential energy sources such as nuclear, bio-fuels (neither of which are mentioned in the current government energy development roadmaps).
How can we assist in change? A topic for another blog!
The Accidental Manager 