Germany to spend $220bn for industrial transformation by 2026

The Times reports that UK prime minister Boris Johnson “believes the West should be given a ‘climate change pass’ to help wean the EU off Russian gas supplies as he faces mounting pressure over the government’s 2050 net-zero target”. It adds: “The Times has been told that Johnson wants the West, particularly the US and Canada, to ramp up its own production of gas to help remove the ‘massive leverage’ Russia has over EU countries. While retaining the government’s target, Johnson is understood to believe that western countries should be able to increase gas production during the transition to nuclear and renewables.” A “government source” tells the newspaper: “We have to address this over the short term, mid term and long term. The prime minister is interested in giving the gas industry a climate pass in the transition to nuclear and renewables.” Politico adds: “A senior government source this weekend told [us] that, while Britain was not as dependent as others on Russian energy, we could expect to hear a lot more about Western countries giving themselves a temporary ‘climate change pass’ in the face of recent events, ‘easing off net zero’ as they find ways of being less reliant on Russia.”

The news follows various media reports of divisions within the ruling Conservative party about how best to achieve “energy security”. The Daily Mail today says that “nearly 40 Conservative parliamentarians have written to Boris Johnson urging him to reverse plans to end fracking” It adds: “The 34 MPs and five peers claim that sealing two of the UK’s only viable shale gas wells next week would benefit Vladimir Putin. Britain must instead embark on a ‘national mission’ to secure its energy independence and reduce its reliance on imported gas, they say. Energy company Cuadrilla is due to concrete over its fracking wells in Lancashire on 15 March, having been ordered to do so by the Oil and Gas Authority. But the MPs – led by Craig Mackinlay and Steve Baker, the chairman and deputy chairman of the Conservative ‘net-zero scrutiny group’ – have issued a plea to halt the move.” The group of climate-sceptic Tory politicians includes Lord Frost, Lord Lilley and Esther McVey. The Mail adds: “A source at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) resisted the call, saying the MPs should ‘get real’…’The UK is in no way dependent on Russian gas, with imports making up just 4% of demand. Fracking would have no effect on domestic energy prices in the near future.’” The paper also carries an accompanying opinion piece by Steve Hilton, former director of strategy for David Cameron and now a Fox News commentator in the US, who says that “politicians from all parties have indulged in an orgy of green virtue-signalling, implementing self-harming, counter-productive policies such as Boris Johnson’s ban on fracking for shale gas”. An editorial in same edition of the Daily Mail concludes: “We must start taking energy security seriously. For all the wishing and hoping, renewables alone will not keep the lights and radiators on over the next 28 years. So in the Gadarene rush to net-zero, we will either have to buy in increasing supplies from despots such as Putin or turbocharge our own nuclear and north Sea production. The vaccine miracle showed what can be done by a public/private task force under dynamic leadership and liberated from the crushing red tape of Whitehall. Isn’t it time to mobilise a similar force to secure our energy needs for the next generation? We must get our heads out of the sand.”

In stark contrast, the Financial Times carries news of a letter sent to Johnson by backbenchers belonging to the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), who argue that the UK government should improve the UK’s energy security by sharply increasing its target for “floating” offshore wind farms. The Tory MPs have “urged business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to grasp ‘the massive opportunity’ presented by the relatively new type of wind turbine technology, in which the UK is a world leader”.

Meanwhile, the Sun says that the chancellor Rishi Sunak “may be forced into an emergency budget this month due to energy market chaos sparked by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”.

Finally, the Mail on Sunday carries an “exclusive” about how “Nigel Farage is launching a political movement to campaign for a referendum on Boris Johnson’s controversial net-zero policy to decarbonise the economy by 2050”. The newspaper adds: “The former Brexit Party leader uses an article in today’s Mail on Sunday to announce that Britain Means Business – modelled on his successful campaign for a Brexit referendum – will call for the abandonment of the flagship green policy…Mr Farage, who has established Britain Means Business with Richard Tice, his co-founder at Leave Means Leave and the Brexit Party, describes the ‘net-zero delusion’ as ‘a scandal of epic proportions’ which must be challenged.” The article by Farage begins: “The net-zero zealots are the same elitists who sneered at Brexit and don’t have to worry about paying their gas bills…Net-zero is net stupid.” The Mail on Sunday also carries its own editorial supporting Farage’s campaign under the headline: “The astronomical costs of pursuing a Net Zero utopia.” It concludes: “Chancellor Rishi Sunak is one of several leading Tories who likewise suspect that net-zero is an aim this country cannot afford, and which is not justified by its practical outcomes. Now, thanks to Russia’s war crimes, it is also shown to be strategically unwise. We should take heed of this and many other dangers, while we still can.” The Independent notes that the actor Hugh Grant has told Farage to “go f*** yourself” in response to his campaign for a net-zero referendum.