How China, the carbon colossus, dwarfs Britain’s net zero momentum

If he’s not obsessed with emissions, what does Sir Tony think the UK should focus on?

Instead, he suggests that Britain should take advantage of its economic strengths: finance.

As an alternative to the current dispute over who should pay what and how much heat pumps cost, it might seem refreshing to have a suggestion that we can sell something to the rest of the world.

It also differs from suggestions that the UK should try to outbid the US and EU by giving out massive subsidies to build green industries in an effort to catch up with China’s head start.

“The number one issue today, and this is where Britain could play a role, is how the energy transition is financed.” she asked.

“Because, basically, the developed world’s emissions are going down, but the developing world’s are going up. These countries have to grow, so how do you finance the transition? Second, how do you speed up technology?

When it comes to Britain’s potential advantages in greening the global economy, climate specialists suspect that the UK’s financial advantage could be valuable, but only alongside pressure to cut emissions further.

“We have all these comparative advantages here, and we’re wasting them a bit,” says Laurie Laybourn, an environmental policy researcher.

“For the UK to reduce its emissions, whether or not they are bigger or smaller than China’s, is a way of focusing our agenda on maximizing those incredible capabilities that we have in Britain, like our financial services, and that we are incredibly good at. making things up ”

As it is, he fears that China has realized that mastering renewables will make it an economic winner, even as it continues to burn fossil fuels. Renewables will fuel China’s growth as coal fueled Britain’s industrial revolution and oil delivered American hegemony in the 20th century, he suggests.

“The big winner in key energy sources of the day is a big economic winner,” he says.

“China is doing it with renewable energy.”