London, 30 January – In his farewell lecture delivered last night to the Irish Climate Science Forum and Clintel, the outgoing GWPF director Benny Peiser has warned that governments elected on the promise of reforming damaging climate and energy policies will be constrained by legal hurdles and party-political shenanigans.
For the first time since the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) was launched by Nigel Lawson and Benny Peiser 15 years ago, the all-party climate consensus is breaking up. For too long climate science and climate policy have been dominated by dogmatism, censorship and eco-socialist control and command economies. The main reason for the deepening crisis of unilateral climate policy is the rising cost and financial burden of utopian targets that have led to a voter rebellion across Europe and North America.
Most of the West’s political leaders who have been driving a radical climate policy agenda for years (e.g. Ardern, Sturgeon, Rutte, Scholz, Macron, Biden, Trudeau, etc.) have lost elections and power in recent months. The rise of climate sceptical parties and growing public opposition to costly Net Zero plans has resulted in a marked change of rhetoric, soft-paddling and a change of political priorities.
As the international backlash against eco-socialist governments takes shape, newly elected leaders are now struggling to get their governments off legally binding targets and regulatory shackles. In his lecture, Dr Peiser addresses the new political landscape, the legal hurdles and political constraints for radical policy reforms and considers possible exit strategies for governments keen to develop and deliver pragmatic policy alternatives.
Watch the full lecture here: How can eager governments get off the Net Zero hook? (YouTube)