Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Breitbart; The British House of Lords has stated in a report that young people should shoulder the burden of net zero, because older people won’t benefit from the expenditure.

… Lord Hollick, Chair of the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, said:

“The Government has set ambitious targets for net zero including a carbon-free power system by 2035; however there is no point planning a carbon-free energy future if you haven’t got a clue how you will get there or how it will be paid for.

“We now need urgent action from the Government to answer outstanding questions on issues such as how they will incentivise households to replace gas boilers with heat pumps – and what plans there are for the 6 million homes where heat pumps may be unsuitable – what funding mechanisms will be established to encourage investment in small modular nuclear reactors and how the upgrade of our infrastructure to allow the use of hydrogen for heating will be funded. These are basic questions that need to be answered before we will get the investment we need to get to net zero.

“The amounts that can realistically be raised via surcharges on energy bills is not enough. Bills are regressive as the poor pay more of their income on energy costs; it is also unfair to the current generation as we are asking current billpayers to cover the huge costs of something that is designed to mainly benefit future generations. The Government should look again at using greater public borrowing to fund what are huge and long-term infrastructure costs. That would give investors confidence to invest in new technologies and ensure the public aren’t hit immediately with higher bills at a time that many are already struggling with fuel poverty.

“While money is a key challenge it isn’t the only one. We need better co-ordination across Government and a real drive and focus to deliver net zero. This requires tackling highly sensitive, political decisions that affect all consumers and taxpayers. That is why we are calling for a new Energy Transformation Taskforce within government that will report directly to the Prime Minster and take the lead in setting and co-ordinating net zero strategy and policy across government.” …

Read more: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/517/industry-and-regulators-committee/news/161468/uk-will-miss-net-zero-target-without-urgent-action-warns-lords-committee/

The House of Lords report, which from my brief review appears to be a mixture of recommendations for communist price controls and a lot of handwaving, is available here.

Given the official UK public debt stands at 103.7% of GDP, I’m not entirely sure where the British Government plans to find creditors dumb enough to lend them the kind of money required for a serious attempt at Net Zero.

But whatever happens, it does make a kind of sense – young people mostly are the ones who believe climate action is necessary, so they should be the ones to pay for it.

Of course, to keep it fair, there should also be an opt out clause for young people who think Net Zero is a stupid waste of resources.

I wonder how many young Greta followers would choose to opt out of paying more tax?