Within seconds of the Iberian blackout, the Telegraph splashed a headline that ‘experts’ had blamed Net Zero policies. “Which experts?” I asked myself with a wry smile. The first cited was Kathryn Porter who has made climate sceptic statements in the past – would you trust an energy ‘expert’ who believes that she knows more about climate science than actual climate scientists?

[At the time of writing, we don’t  know the precise cause of the blackout, but let’s not forget blackouts have occurred from time to time in recent history, no matter what the energy source. It is clear we need electricity grids which can isolate malfunctioning elements rather than go into a panicky total shut down.]

 

And then, the very next day, the venerable Tony Blair weighed in, claiming the UK’s approach to Net Zero is fatally flawed. His alternative? Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and direct air capture (DAC). Now, if you think renewables are expensive, you’re not only wrong, but you’re going to get a real shock when you find out the costs of these end-of-pipe solutions (DAC isn’t even on the end of the pipe). And of course they keep us in hock to dodgy petrostates (some of which have had dealings with a certain T Blair…)

Is there any other field of human endeavour where anyone with an opinion is treated as an expert? I’ve never seen an anti-vaxxer being given mainstream airtime (at least in the UK, the US is sui generis at present), or a flat-earther or a 9/11-conspiracist?

Day after day we end up trying to knock back opinion with facts like King Canute trying to hold back the tide. Genuine experts end up being bombarded with propaganda-based questions by mainstream interviewers and then get derided on social media if they can’t reduce complex arguments to a slick soundbite. And even when presenters do dig into the detail they allow politicians to simply wave away the hard evidence presented to them (eg Robert Peston interviewing Kemi Badenoch).

I’m sure like many readers, I often feel like I’m screaming into the void. But I keep reminding myself, there is only a backlash because push is coming to shove and vested interests are starting to panic. We know what we have to do, we know how to do it and we’ve got to get on with it, no matter what the turbulence around us.