David Kennedy, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change announced today, almost in passing, at the The Guardian Climate Change Summit, that the “Summer Strategy” regarding all the Government’s choices on Climate Change technologies, as articulated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will be published within the week.
This will obviously contain the usual suspects : a small coterie of new Nuclear plus the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) “demonstration” “learn by doing” plants (up to 4 according to Nicholas Stern and Ed Miliband) that so many think is a waste of time, money and other resources such as patience.
The “Summer Strategy” will be “picking winners”, well, it will be “picking technologies”. Whether they are “winners” or not is debate-able. The key point is that it has been recognised by those at the centre of the eye of the storm that “markets” by themselves will not provide new investment in new (or old) technologies, so the Government thinks they want to provide the “energy mix” they think is best by dictating it.
Hold your noses for a very dead-fishy exercise – the results of perhaps a decade of corporate lobbying.
Just remember, all this talk of “pricing Carbon” is simply a way to make certain technologies cheap “enough” for the markets. You know, those expensive technologies we otherwise wouldn’t touch with a bargepole – new Nuclear and CCS.
In fact, any “Carbon price” is effectively a subsidy to the Coal industry. It’s the “bailout” for Coal in real terms. I can just make out the outline of the begging bowl, and it’s the size of Europe.
Europe have declared their plan to sell EUAs by Auction – European Union Allowances under the EU ETS Emissions Trading Scheme. The proceeds of this Auction are more or less earmarked for CCS demonstration projects. So there you have it ! Quad Erat Demonstrandum. Give people the expensive option and make them pay for it. How much more Stupid can you get ?