What’s the biggest obstacle to reaching Net Zero? The answer might surprise you

It’s public opposition - and supposedly “green” policies like banning boilers just increases it.

Let’s begin with some climate realism for a change, instead of lifestyle propaganda. There is no way that Net Zero can be achieved in a democracy without public support. Yet almost every action of the Scottish government right now, tutored by Green Party ministers, seems calculated to alienate the very people upon whom the fate of the planet depends: ordinary voters. 

Penalising them for using their cars when there is no reasonable alternative, except for the rich, is bound to generate justifiable resentment. Similarly, passing legislation that could prevent families selling their homes unless they spend thousands of pounds on expensive gadgets like heat pumps that don’t work in our antiquated housing stock. Insisting on importing oil and gas from abroad at great expense, not least to the environment, instead of developing the UK’s domestic supply is simply irrational. “Green” Norway is self-sufficient in renewables yet it exports its expensive fossil fuel to the UK while drilling in the Arctic. Who exactly the hypocrites here? I could go on. 

So I will: