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Why Net Zero Isn't Stupid

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Renewable energy is only cheap because of subsidies

This is the pot calling the kettle black! Subsidies to fossil fuel companies are much larger than those being paid to help the UK develop, clean, home-grown, low-cost renewable energy.

The UK government subsidizes fossil fuels by about $16.4 billion a year, mostly in the form of tax-breaks (source: https://www.iisd.org/).

Furthermore, there’s an additional, much larger, hidden subsidy for fossil fuels in that the companies pay very little for the climate damage they cause, i.e. they make the money but everyone else pays the costs.

The UK’s emissions in 2024 were 371 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and the US EPA recently estimated the social cost of emissions at $190/tonne. So, simple arithmetic tells us that the UK’s emissions are causing around $70 billion damage every year.

That’s real money being paid out by you and I through our taxes (to pay for flood defences, increased fire brigade costs and so on), through increased food prices and through increased insurance premiums.

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