Net Zero

 by Dieter Helm

A thought provoking book examining whether we are on the right track to get to net zero by 2050 or not.

The basic premise of the book is that for the last thirty years (ie since the formation of the UNFCCC) we have been focussed on the wrong things and approaching it the wrong way in that the approach is:
1. Top down from the UN via the annual COP meetings.
2. Measures are aimed at producers and not polluters.
He backs this up with the evidence in the growth of ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere and the continued global growth in the use of fossil fuels, all of which stacks up and makes for depressing reading. One of his aims is to try and make sure we do not give up the drive for net zero as a lost cause. I admire his optimism but am still not convinced.

This being the case, however, he proposes a three-fold solution that would address the problem he has set out. These are that firstly the polluter pays. ie we move from a production based approach to a consumption based approach. This inevitably leads to some form of carbon tax which applies to consumption so it would need to be applied on imports. Interestingly, Europe is already looking at this and Macron raised it in his speech last week when France took over the presidency of the EU. He suggests that this is a simple straightforward affair and less prone to lobbying and corruption. I seem to recall the same things being said about VAT when it was introduced and that is now incredibly complex. However, I do agree that a tax on carbon has to be brought in. We will not pay for carbon voluntarily.
Secondly it is invoking the principle of public money for public goods. This applies to infrastructure and R&D. In particular he focuses on broadband and electricity infrastructures which should be built by public monies and universally available. 
Thirdly there should be net environmental gain in anything we do to mitigate the effects of loss and cheating. I found this hard to seperate from the first point in that any net gain will have to be achieved through the polluter pays principle.
I liked the fact that the book does not shy away from the cost of this and even addresses the thorny moral questions of whether the rich industrialised countries should pay for adaptation measures in those countries most affected by climate change or whether we should have an obligation to accept climate refugees.

The final section of the book looks specifically at agriculture, transport and electricity. These were interesting but I got a bit lost in some of the technical arguments. All in all though a good challenging read to start the year. 8/10