Telegraph
Plenty has changed. The climate debate, so long polarised
between zealots and deniers, has cooled. It is now (just about) possible
to question the wisdom of an environmentalist policy without being
denounced as a global warming denier. This applies to scientists, too: global temperatures have not been warming significantly for about 17 years now,
encouraging a closer look at climate variability. The fracking
revolution in the United States mean its natural gas prices have fallen
to less then the average in Europe. As a result, heavy industry (and
jobs) are flooding back to former rustbelt states. The scientific
consensus has not changed: the planet is warming and mankind is, at
least in part, responsible. Action is certainly needed. But how to help,
without hurting too much?
There is another climate
problem: the fact that at least 15,000 British pensioners die of the
cold each winter. It’s a staggering death toll, which has been greeted
with a shrug for far too long. But this, too, is ending. The notion of
“fuel poverty” is being more widely recognised – and green subsidy is
compounding the problem. Much of it is raised by slapping an invisible
tax on energy bills, costing the average household some £150 a year – a
figure that is only set to rise."
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