Subsidising net zero type so-called climate policies in the US is not only enormously expensive but globally disruptive as well, it seems. Climate protection becoming climate protectionism?
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Joe Biden’s flagship green energy policy risks plunging the world into the economic “dark ages”, Jeremy Hunt has warned.
The Chancellor urged world leaders not to put up trade barriers after the US President passed a $369bn package of subsidies to support climate and energy businesses, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has drawn an estimated $200bn in investment since it was passed last year, according to estimates from the Financial Times, and both the EU and Britain have been forced to draw up responses of their own.
It has sparked fears of a new era of protectionism, where economies are closely managed through tariffs and subsidies.
Mr Hunt said the British Government would provide “some” support for businesses to stop investment fleeing overseas but said it would be measured.
The Chancellor told Sky News: “First of all it’s wasteful to spend money subsidising factories that would have been built anyway.
“Secondly, when you take subsidies away, you can end up with a business that’s not viable.”
“If we were to turn our backs on free trade, that will be a disaster for the world economy. We will enter into a dark ages period. We do not want to move to protectionism.”
His comments came after British battery maker AMTE Power said it was considering moving investment to the US because of its generous subsidies for green technologies.
Separately, Mr Hunt has been boosted by new forecasts showing Britain’s economy is on track to not only avoid recession this year but grow.
The British economy will defy gloomy predictions and emerge slightly larger at the end of this year, according to one of the City’s most closely watched forecasters.
Full report here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
April 17, 2023 at 05:45AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 