By Paul Homewood
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-climate-fight/on-demand/74985-001
Channel 4 has launched its latest climate change series, The Great Climate Fight. Even by their standards, this has to be one the most one-sided, untruthful documentaries I have seen on TV.
You can also watch it on YouTube here.
It is presented three luvvies with no expertise in climate or energy:
Kevin McCloud – Designer, Writer and TV Presenter
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Chef
Mary Portas – Retail Consultant
They all admit at the outset that the whole purpose of the series is to campaign for Net Zero. And the following opening statements by them prove just how grossly misleading the series is:
“What if I told you that solving the climate crisis is possible”
“The good news is that we have the tools”
“The problem is our politicians”
“We’ve got a plan. We can get to Net Zero” (With a photo of the Sixth Carbon Budget)
“Global warming can be stopped”
“But our politicians are failing us”
The whole of their emphasis is on the UK Government, but there is not a single mention as far as I could see of the fact that the UK only produces 1% of the world’s emissions, which continue to rise as ours fall. But the impression they want to give viewers is that the UK really could stop climate change on its own.
Nowhere of course are there any counter claims or challenges to the opinions expressed. Maybe I have lost the plot (!), but I thought OFCOM were supposed to ensure balanced reporting!
And Series 1 is based on some outright dishonesty and misinformation:
First off, their Battle Bus claim that “We give the oil and gas industry £42 million a week in tax breaks”.
However the official data shows that taxpayers don’t pay a penny to the oil and gas sector. Instead North Sea oil and gas paid £9 billion in tax last year:
The second big lie concerns onshore wind, which one of the presenters claimed had been “effectively banned” by David Cameron. As even the BBC have been forced to admit, this simply is not true. All that happened was that subsidies were abolished and wind farms were to be subject to local planning permission. Very few new wind farms were built after that decision in 2016 because they were not economical.
In any event, HFW’s demand that the government “stop blocking” onshore wind is rather out of date, as many projects were given subsidies again last year!
But the programme ignore this, repeating the grossly misleading claim that gas power was nine times as costly as wind, for a few days last year. Indeed, it goes on to claim that our energy bills would have been much lower now but for that “ban”.
There is no basis for this claim. Last year energy users had to pay £1.7bn in subsidies to onshore wind. Since 2016, subsidies for onshore wind have totalled over £9 billion. And that figure does not include the wider costs involved. Even the newest wind farms are not cheaper than gas power – they have CfDs at a price of £110/MWh.
But the biggest lie of the lot is the claim that we would all be better off under Net Zero policies.
They don’t explain how we would be better off paying ten grand more for EVs.
And they don’t explain either how would be better off with heat pumps that cost fifteen grand.
Nor do they explain how people will be better off, who will lose their well paid jobs in the energy sector, steelmaking and other manufacturing businesses which will not be able to compete under the burden of high energy costs and Net Zero regulations.
Unfortunately in luvvie world, none of these things matter. Another ten grand for a car? Don’t worry, Channel 4 will pay me a fortune for making another rubbishy documentary!
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
November 23, 2023 at 11:06AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 