From Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
Never has a proposed Whitehall taskforce been so aptly named.
Election 2024: Labour to create new office for net zero in government to push green transition
Sources say the new office would demonstrate commitment to achieving clean power by 2030 and provide a key dividing line with the Tories.
Alexandra Rogers
Political reporter @Journoamrogers
Tuesday 25 June 2024 03:04, UKLabour will ramp up its efforts to achieve net zero with a dedicated team of officials working to eliminate carbon emissions if it wins the election, Sky News understands.
The party’s transition team, led by Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray, is considering setting up an Office for Net Zero if it forms the next government, sources said, with a focus on delivering its aim for clean power as laid out in its manifesto.
It is not yet clear whether the new office would sit within the Cabinet Office – one of the key control centres in government alongside Number 10 and the Treasury – or under the the existing Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnez).
…
While Labour have announced moves to accelerate the move to net zero, including doubling onshore wind, tripling solar power and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030, Mr Sunak’s approach has been more cautious.
…Read more:
If only the Net Zero push had been around back when the BBC used to make comedy programmes.
In the famous BBC Sitcom “Yes Minister”, MP Jim Hacker and his adversary Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby ran the “Department of Administrative Affairs”, a fictional Whitehall ministry which had poorly defined responsibilities and achieved nothing significant during the entire series.
But “Office for Net Zero” beats “Department of Administrative Affairs” in terms of implied uselessness. I mean, there’s a vague expectation the “Department of Administrative Affairs” might actually be expected to achieve something. But “Office for Net Zero” – can you imagine a “Net Zero” progress report?
Labour leader Keir Starmer’s imminent administration was always destined to be a comedy special – radical green politicians using Karl Marx as their guide to fixing the economic failures of Britain’s energy market.
Don’t lose any important peripheral appendages to frostbite kind of humour.
But please keep the “Office for Net Zero” title for the crack team of bureaucrats who will lead the charge to make it all right. Writing future WUWT articles about the unfolding energy disaster at the “Office for Net Zero” would just be the cherry on the cake.