I present the latest, bald facts about the UK’s tiny greenhouse gas emissions

Sadiq Khan, Greta Thunberg, Keir Starmer, Just Stop Oil & Extinction Rebellion should read this

Yesterday it seemed the Prime Minister has now started rowing back on the Government’s hugely costly ‘climate change agenda.

These first small moves are welcome, but in this report, I once again provide the evidence to show how the punishing rises in the cost of living due to Net Zero policies have never been underpinned by the facts of the UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases.

Sadiq Khan (London), Humza Yousaf (Scotland), Greta Thunberg (“How dare you?”), Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion protesters should read this report — but I know they won’t. Why? Because they are zealots and uncomfortable facts do not suit their died-in agendas.

What the Prime Minister announced yesterday

More than 100 new oil and gas licences will be granted in the UK, the Prime Minister announced on Monday (31 July 2023) as the UK Government belatedly starts to back the North Sea oil and gas industry once again, as part of its drive to make Britain more energy independent.

This comes as a new analysis released by the NSTA (the North Sea Transition Authority) yesterday showed that the carbon footprint of domestic gas production is around one-quarter of the carbon footprint of imported liquefied natural gas.

As the UK has been a rapidly declining producer of oil and gas as a result of government policies, new oil and gas licences will eventually reduce the rate of fall in UK supply in order to ensure vital energy security. Unfortunately, the Government’s plan is not to increase production — merely to slow the decline.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

“We have all witnessed how Putin has manipulated and weaponised energy — disrupting supply and stalling growth in countries around the world. Now more than ever, it’s vital that we bolster our energy security and capitalise on that independence to deliver more affordable, clean energy to British homes and businesses.

“Even when we’ve reached net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will come from oil and gas. But there are those who would rather that it come from hostile states than from the supplies we have here at home.

“We’re choosing to power up Britain from Britain and invest in crucial industries such as carbon capture and storage, rather than depend on more carbon intensive gas imports from overseas — which will support thousands of skilled jobs, unlock further opportunities for green technologies and grow the economy.”

The facts about the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and the UK’s negligible involvement

Below I have analysed the totality of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and show how the UK is virtually irrelevant when looking at the culprits for this.

GHG includes CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and trace gases such as the group of ‘F-gases’. Climate scientists have weighted these according to their estimated effects on ‘global warming’. The aggregate is expressed as a ‘CO2 equivalent’. In short, this is a more complete measure than simply looking at CO2 emissions on their own.

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases, 2021 (latest data available)

1. Overview of the UK’s position

• The world belted out 54.6bn tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2021
• The UK’s share was just 0.77%
• If the UK had emitted zero, the rest of the world would still have emitted 54.2bn tonnes

[Source: Oxford University’s highly-respected ‘Our World in Data’.]

2. The main culprits

China

USA

India

EU27

Russia

Brazil

Indonesia

Japan

Iran

Mexico

Canada

The list goes on and on and the little old UK emits just 0.77%

Is it reasonable to impoverish the British people over the next 20 years for the sins of other countries? The UK’s output of all greenhouse gases represents little more than a rounding error when looking at the huge emissions from the rest of the world. In the case of China and Asian countries, these are actually growing.

Is it right for Sadiq Kahn to make our capital city one of the most expensive in the world in which to drive a car or delivery van? Is it right for low-paid night-shift workers to face a £25 fee for driving to work at night and returning the next morning?

The welcome news above is that the Prime Minister finally seems to accept that the United Kingdom requires more energy self-sufficiency. Now he will need to legislate to ensure that major banks like NatWest and the major insurers will offer their services to the oil and gas companies again.

Sources: №10 | Oxford University’s ‘Our World in Data’