Nigel Farage has been pilloried for his new campaign which would likely increase the UK's reliance on Russian fossil fuels | Credit: Gage Skidmore
Former UKIP leader formally launches campaign for UK to ditch net zero targets, as government reiterates importance of accelerating clean energy development
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage yesterday formally launched a new campaign calling for a referendum on the UK's net zero target, sparking accusations the move would undermine investment and job creation efforts, increase climate risks, and leave the country more exposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempts to weaponise fossil fuel supplies.
Following months of speculation that a handful of the key players in the Brexit referendum were preparing a fresh campaign against the UK's net zero target, Farage used the Mail on Sunday to announce that the Britain Means Business group, which he co-founded with Brexit-backing businessman Richard Tice, will lead the push for a referendum.
"Net Zero is net stupid," Farage wrote. "By taking Britain down its ruinous path, the political class in Westminster has made a decision on behalf of the rest of us without any public debate being held, saddling taxpayers with a debt that few politicians are brave enough to quantify publicly and even fewer economists are clever enough to forecast accurately.
"It is a scandal of epic proportions and it must be challenged. That is why we are launching a campaign today for a referendum on the net zero delusion, under the banner of Britain Means Business."
Unveiling the campaign's slogan of ‘Vote power, not poverty', Farage said that in addition to calling for a referendum the group would push the VAT on energy bills to be scrapped and for UK domestic production of shale gas and coking coal to be scaled up in order to boost energy security and cut emissions with imports.
Farage's manifesto made no mention of the fact projections for UK shale gas production are highly contested, that failing to curb emissions incurs major climate risks, or that polling shows overwhelming public and corporate support for the net zero transition.
As such, the launch of the new campaign sparked an angry response on social media and significant pushback from the government.
Writing separately in the Mail on Sunday, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng rejected the idea that shale gas is a magic bullet for improving the UK's energy security and reiterated that steps to accelerate the roll out of clean energy capacity represents the best route for curbing Europe's reliance on Russian gas and minimising the UK's exposure to volatile prices.
"For too long, Europe's dependence on Russian gas has left the Continent vulnerable to blackmail and allowed Putin to pull strings," Kwarteng said. "Russia is effectively weaponising its dominance over the European gas supply for political ends… Every decision Russia takes - from limiting gas exports to starting a war - sends the global market into a frenzy, and we all pay for it. For as long as we depend on oil and gas - wherever it is from - we are all vulnerable to Putin's malign influence on global markets."
He added that: "the good news is, Russia can't directly manipulate the price of renewable energy and nuclear power in the UK. And with gas prices at record highs, and the price of renewable energy plummeting, we need to accelerate our transition away from expensive gas. Now, more than ever, we must focus on generating cheaper, cleaner power in Britain, for Britain. This is how we become energy independent in the long term."
Kwarteng also argued the UK should continue to exploit its North Sea oil and gas reserves so as curb reliance on Russia, but he insisted the economics and energy security implications for UK shale gas exploration are very different.
"Those calling for its return misunderstand the situation we find ourselves in," he said in a thinly veiled reference to Farage's campaign. "First, the UK has no gas supply issues. And even if we lifted the fracking moratorium tomorrow, it would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes - and it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside.
"Second, no amount of shale gas from hundreds of wells dotted across rural England would be enough to lower the European price any time soon. And with the best will in the world, private companies are not going to sell the shale gas they produce to UK consumers below the market price… So given Russia is the dominant supplier of gas, and effectively controls the price - even the price of gas produced in the UK - we need to diversify our energy mix."
Business groups and campaigners were similarly swift to condemn Farage's calls for a referendum as an unnecessary distraction that would only serve to undermine the UK's energy security and long economic term prospects.
Writing on Twitter, Energy UK chief executive Emma Pinchbeck said she had "not seen a cry for attention this desperate since my toddler put a pair of my husband's boxer-shorts on her head last week and shouted ‘look at my hat'".
Sam Hall, chief executive of the Conservative Environment Network, said that "with gas prices rocketing and the geopolitical costs of gas dependence exposed, the case for net zero has never been stronger". He added that Farage's campaign "would push up people's bills, endanger new investment and jobs in our industrial heartlands, and cede more ground to China on clean tech".
Numerous social media commentators also highlighted Farage's long history of climate scepticism and professed admiration for Vladimir Putin.
"Our dependence on fossil fuels has been the lifeblood of Vladimir Putin's regime," said Greenpeace UK's head of politics Rebecca Newsom. "Thanks to weak political leaders who have allowed themselves to be swayed by a vocal minority of sceptics like Farage, we're now stuck with gas-guzzling homes that are funding Putin's war, hurting our pockets as gas prices soar and wrecking the climate.
"We have already seen what happens when, in David Cameron's infamous phrase, you 'cut the green crap'. UK energy bills are now £2.5bn higher thanks to that. Britain has the worst track record on heat pump sales and some of the draughtiest homes in Europe. This is the price we pay for decades of government failure to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Our best hope for a safer, healthier, peaceful future is in moving away from oil and gas as quickly as possible and investing in renewable energy and warmer homes. That's the hope Farage is trying to extinguish, and no doubt Putin will be cheering him on."
However, Farage's campaign comes as some of the specific measures called for by Britain Means Business are gaining traction within Whitehall. Reports suggest the Treasury is looking again at whether to move green levies on energy bills onto general taxation in a bid to at least partially ease soaring energy bills, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling for increased oil and gas production from some of the world's key strategic basins in a bid to curb reliance on Russian exports. Calls are also growing for VAT to be removed from energy bills, even if analysts have repeatedly warned such measures will in no way fully offset the soaring cost of wholesale gas prices.
Meanwhile, calls continue to grow from business groups and campaigners for governments to urgently ramp up development of clean energy capacity and energy efficiency measures so as to reduce reliance on Russian gas and minimise exposure to soaring oil and gas prices.
Today a coalition of leading green business groups urged the EU to ensure its imminent new energy security package is harnessed to unleash a major increase in clean energy and energy efficiency investment.
And MPs in the Conservative Environment Network today wrote to Kwarteng urging him to raise the government's target for floating offshore wind deployment from 1GW by 2030 to 15GW by 2035. The group argued the current target is "relatively unambitious" given the recent ScotWind leasing round for seabed licenses in Scottish waters saw 10 applications from proposed floating wind projects with 12GW of capacity.
"The global race for net zero industries, from clean hydrogen to green steel, is well underway," the letter states. "Floating offshore wind is one such industry where the UK has a natural advantage, given our coastline, wind speeds, and the transferable expertise of our oil and gas sector. Other countries, like the USA and Italy, for example, are raising their targets for floating offshore wind. We should raise ours further to maintain our lead."
Want to find out more about how the net zero transition will impact your business? You can now sign up to attend the virtual Net Zero Finance Summit, which will take place live and interactive on Tuesday 29 March and will be available on demand for delegates after the event.
