The Net Zero Straitjacket - Highlighted Article

From: GWPF

By: Harry Wilkinson

Date: June 2025

The Net Zero Straitjacket - Five Reasons Net Zero Will Bankrupt Britain

Executive summary

No one can be in any doubt that Net Zero will be incredibly expensive. Estimates for the total capital cost range widely, from £1.4 trillion (Climate Change Committee), to £3 trillion (National Grid), or even as high as £6–10 trillion (Net Zero Watch). The Energy Technologies Institute has suggested that the cost of decarbonising housing alone could be up to £2 trillion. Even the lower end of this range represents a staggering level of spending, comparable in scale to fighting a major war. This is not sustainable, and there are worrying reasons to believe these sums will be higher, rather than lower. This short paper sets out five key reasons why Net Zero will bankrupt Britain:

1. The cost of renewable energy has been underestimated. Published official analyses have not adequately accounted for variable weather patterns which mean there can be periods known as Dunkelflaute, when there is low renewable power output, and even whole wind drought years. This means that the quantity of electricity generation and storage required in 2050 has not been calculated correctly.
2. Electricity prices are likely to rise further, an outcome that the renewable industry appears to be betting on, and which is ‘built in’ by rising renewable energy subsidies and growing grid inefficiency.
3. Compulsory policies put Britain in a straitjacket and can only leave the public poorer. Mandating the use of EVs, heat pumps and overly strict environmental standards reduces consumer choice and leaves the public worse off. The Climate Change Act ties all future governments to these rigid requirements.
4. We will miss out on using the energy under our feet. The opportunity costs of Net Zero need to be recognised. Failing to extract our significant fossil fuel reserves means large sums of potential tax revenues go uncollected and many people miss out on high-skilled and high-paid jobs. Importing gas and oil means tax revenues, jobs and investments go abroad.
5. The benefits don’t stack up. The Government uses flawed ‘carbon values’ to claim large benefits for its climate policies. However, these are highly contestable and don’t represent real benefits for the British public from lower emissions. (continue reading)

The Net Zero Straitjacket - Five Reasons Net Zero Will Bankrupt Britain