Rare Earth Podcast + The Rest Is Politics on Net Zero
Rare Earth - Is Net Zero a toxic brand?
It's no secret that not everyone thinks Net Zero is a good idea - those on the climate-sceptic end of the spectrum see it as misguided at best, and even some who understand the harsh reality of climate change don't see Net Zero as a helpful framing of the solution.
This podcast offers a detailed discussion of the issues around Net Zero, and how (if?) it can be achieved.
Some of the points made are encouraging – the UK has been a genuine leader on climate change and made progress towards our target of Net Zero emissions by 2050. The uncomfortable truth is that this progress has been made largely by shifting power generation from dirty coal to cleaner gas plus an increasing proportion of renewables.
As a country our demand for energy hasn’t diminished and evidence indicates that most people are either unwilling or unable to change how they live in order to cut carbon emissions.
This podcast provides a deeper understanding of this issue and looks at how they might be dealt with, but doesn’t offer easy answers.
The Rest is Politics: Leading - Ed Miliband: Farage, Starmer and The Fight for Net Zero
As it happens, another podcast released recently also covers the topic of Net Zero in some detail. The Rest Is Politics, hosted by Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, has a Leading strand consisting of fairly long interviews with leaders from all walks of life.
A recent interviewee is the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband – a man so interesting that the interview was released in two parts, the second of which covers Net Zero. As one of the architects of the UK's Climate Change Act which introduced the Net Zero target, Miliband is unsurprisingly and genuinely positive about it. Given how important his role is, it's worth listening to what he has to say, whether you agree with him or not.
