London, 10 October: A new paper published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation reviews the negative impacts and societal consequences of Western demands for developing countries to adopt Net Zero policies.
Western governments are increasingly demanding that poor and developing countries should switch to renewable energy in order to achieve Net Zero economies. Pressure is exerted through numerous mechanisms, including trade barriers, which directly affect the already struggling population and economy of these countries.
The paper reveals that forcing developing countries to repeat the costly mistakes of Western decarbonisation policies threatens the wellbeing and livelihoods of billions of people around the world.
The author of the report, Canadian Professor Ismet Ugursal, said:
“The poor in the developed world urgently need access to more and cheaper energy to improve their standard of living. To reduce and eradicate poverty, economic growth and increased energy use are necessary, not optional.”
In most developed countries, governments provide grants and subsidies for renewable energy which is uneconomic and unsustainable without billions in handouts. Since poor households can rarely afford these they cannot benefit, although perversely it is their taxes and subsidies that have to pay for renewable energy.
Professor Ugursal said:
“Objectives such as Net Zero and degrowth are therefore not credible. They are misguided follies, which will be discarded sooner rather than later, as the harms they cause to everyone, but especially the very poor, become clear. At this point in technological advancement, the only light at the end of the tunnel seems to be increased utilisation of nuclear energy.”
Ismet Ugursal: The Ethics of decarbonisation for the poor (pdf)