Deben Throws His Toys Out Of The Pram Again
By Paul Homewood
Government backing for new oil and coal, airport expansion plans and slow progress on heat pumps show that the UK has lost its leadership on climate issues, a government watchdog warns.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) described government efforts to scale up climate action as "worryingly slow".
It was "markedly" less confident than a year ago that the UK would reach its targets for cutting carbon emissions.
The government said it was committed to its climate targets.
Committee chairman Lord Deben, a former Conservative environment minister, was particularly critical of the government’s policy on new coal and oil projects.
The decision to approve the UK’s first new deep coal mine in 30 years in Cumbria last December was "total nonsense", he told the BBC.
Lord Deben was also damning about plans for a major new oilfield off the coast of Scotland. Approval for Rosebank, which could produce an estimated 300 million barrels of oil in its lifetime, is expected soon.
"How can we ask countries in Africa not to develop oil?" Lord Deben said. "How can we ask other nations not to expand the fossil fuel production if we start doing it ourselves?"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66032607
The buffoon Deben does not care a toss how much this costs the ordinary people of this country or how much damage his policies may cause. All the matters is his obsession with Net Zero.
And what good has this “leadership” done so far?
The rest of he world has utterly ignored what we have been doing, and carried on as normal.
It is past time that Deben and his fellow troughers at the CCC were put out to pasture, and the interests of the public given priority.
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Could anyone advise what financial and business interests Deben and his family have in pushing so called green energy.
Quite a lot apparently…..
Google ‘Veolia’. Gumdrop has been up to his oxters in anything to do with recycling since he got booted “upstairs”
There was some evidence that Deben had pocketed £600,000 in payments from Green companies .https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-peer-lord-deben-in-row-over-600-000-green-payments-rndnwj6bz
Surprised this is available on the net .
A thoroughly nasty, unprincipled hypocritical little slimeball, in a highly competitive field he is one of the worst.
In spite of his numerous and historic interests, he has always survived because the hierarchy want him there. He is a long time warmer and was at Kyoto in 1997 with John Prescott. He used to attend the annual Tata Sustainability conferences in India, when Pachauri was IPCC chairman. He was also one time chairman of GLOBE international, a behind the scenes grouping of politicians driving the agenda via promoting legislation in their home countries.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6661513/Climate-Change-chief-John-Gummer-faces-calls-quit-payments-green-businesses.html
Friends of the Earth once called him “the best Environment Secretary we have ever had”
From the outset, the CCC has been filled with “activists”. First chairman was Adair Turner, former WWF trustee. In a collection of essays called “Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth”, he argued that ‘growth has to be dethroned’ if the planet is to survive surging population growth and global warming.”
Cameron picked Gummer/Deben to chair the CCC on 06 July 2012. Deben said in a statement: “I am determined that the Committee on Climate Change will remain firmly independent, giving impartial, scientifically well-founded advice to the UK Government and devolved administrations.”
“Secretary of state for energy and climate change, Ed Davey, welcomed the appointment by saying: “The Committee on Climate Change plays an absolutely critical role in advising the government on the direction and progress of its energy and climate change policies.”
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4154/registeredinterests
I expect that this thought is shared by many, but I would have no idea how to start a campaign to force MPs and Lords who support Nett Zero, and the pushing of heat pumps to install them as their sole form of heating in their homes. This would be clear evidence to us all that those in power are happy to practice what they preach. This should include all civil servants who are administering the Nett Zero policy, and ANY/ALL members of the CCC.
I expect that this thought is shared by many, but I would have no idea how to start a campaign to force MPs and Lords who support Nett Zero, and the pushing of heat pumps to install them as their sole form of heating in their homes. This would be clear evidence to us all that those in power are happy to practice what they preach. This should include all civil servants who are administering the Nett Zero policy, and ANY/ALL members of the CCC.
See:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6661513/Climate-Change-chief-John-Gummer-faces-calls-quit-payments-green-businesses.html
I wrote a longer comment about Deben and his likely replacement (Miliband?) and my opinion of them – but binned it. They are both a waste of space and care nothing whatsoever for the country – only their own enrichment.
The sooner he throws himself out of the CCC pram the better. Two days to go?
https://www.theccc.org.uk/2022/07/28/lord-deben-to-continue-in-post-until-mid-2023-professor-nick-chater-steps-down/
Perhaps he should give a JSO talk at Glasto next year alongside Harrabin and Rowlatt.
Meanwhile he will be replaced by Prof Piers Forster. They have spent 2 years trying to find a replacement while Gummer kept on gumming up the works of the economy.
https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/see/staff/1267/professor-piers-forster
(Claimed) Areas of expertise: climate change; climate modelling; climate mitigation; climate risks; climate adaptation; atmospheric physics; radiative forcing; aviation and climate; climate policy, carbon budgets
One of his post graduate researchers is Chinese.
Not exactly about to provide the government with objective advice then!?
Forster is a politicised scientist, already on the committee, based at the Grantham offshoot at Leeds University, where Stern is also involved. We mustn’t forget Baroness Orsted of course, sorry Baroness Brown, a director of Orsted for a couple years.
The fact that this evil man has Hi jacked the name of this lovely river just makes me feel ill.
Most of us didn’t need that excuse.
Genuine leadership would be to expose the “climate”, “green” and “net zero” scams instead of perpetuating them
It was my misfortune to hear the idiot’s rant twice today.
But this should make him very happy as he hates coal.
Britain is to be left without backup coal power plants this winter after the energy companies Drax and EDF confirmed plans to close their remaining stations.
The National Grid on Wednesday said it had ended talks with the two companies about keeping open West Burton A, in Nottinghamshire, and two coal-fired units at Drax’s plant in Selby, Yorkshire, after they made clear that the sites would not be available.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/06/28/britain-left-without-emergency-coal-reserves-winter/
‘But the refusal of EDF and Drax to keep the facilities open means the Grid will be unable to keep this so-called winter contingency in reserve again.’
Oh, sure, EDF and Drax are the bad guys. When Nana dies in the cold next year, it will be EDF and Drax’s fault.
‘From October 1 2024, the UK Government wants to phase out coal power generation completely, primarily by making it “uneconomical” to generate anymore.’
After years of demanding coal plants close, the ensuing problems that-everybody-could-see-coming will be the coal plants’ fault for closing.
Hi Ben, the DT article is paywalled and there’s no way I would pay for their dross. Are they really suggesting EDF should keep West Burton A open because it it’s already in the process of dismantling. Ratcliffe on Soar is owned by Eon and other than Drax is the only operative unit
@ Ray Saunders, the DT article is available as an archive, you should be able to read it: https://archive.is/ZQtiF
I’ve briefly met Gummer a couple of times over the years. He is not an immediately appealing personality. If, as people claim, he is deeply invested in ‘renewables’ then it is not surprising that the CCC has taken such a hairshirt view of AGW.
Let us pray for a long cold winter across the whole of Europe – I’m afraid that only a major failure in the Grid with power rationing and soup kitchens will bring our political and civil service classes to their senses.
Ruat coelem!
I’ve been trying to get an image of the Deben showing a pollution smooth from bank to bank – oil and surfactant smoothing of water surfaces will inevitably cause warming from lower albedo and reduced evaporation, and I’ve seen it all over the world from the South Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf, including one enormous fractured smooth that covered literally tens of thousands of square miles between Porto and Madeira.
To get themselves off the power failure hook our STEM-illiterate politicians are going to need a reason to row back on the ‘CO2 is the only cause’ hysteria. May I suggest APW, Anthropogenic Pollution Warming.*
JF
*See the Sea of Marmara for an extreme example.
Hi Julian, there have been recent posts on here regarding the absurd siting of weather stations on RAF stations. From your experience what is the effect of aircraft on the likes of the environs of RAF Coningsby or Cranwell for example?
My guess is that modern instruments may well respond rapidly to a passing exhaust, but they adjust back down again quickly so that there is never a real issue affecting pilot calculations. Indeed the Dailysceptic report I linked on the Coningsby thread identified 3 Typhoons landing in rapid succession close to the time of the record, with the temperature rising 0.6C and falling back again by the same amount a few minutes later. It would have been taxiing back to the apron rather than the landing itself that would have delivered the hot exhausts. It looks as though we have experimental results in hand.
Slow progress on the (lack of) climate change scam is one of the few bits of good news this year ?
“How can we ask countries in Africa not to develop oil?” Lord Deben said. “How can we ask other nations not to expand the fossil fuel production if we start doing it ourselves?”
Does he really think other nations give a damn about what we do?
The Indians are either 1) Incredibly stupid, or 2) Know full well that Nut Zero is never going to happen. My money is on 2…
They know full well that the whole Climate Catastrophe BS is a hoax from start to finish.
So we’re no longer a world leader in virtue signalling stupidity, economic suicide and national impoverishment. I would call that grounds for celebration.
Agree.
Thank goodness for THAT. Leading the suicide cult is hardly something to aspire to!
Easy answer, don’t ask African countries not to develop oil.
What a top drawer idiot.
The fact that the JSO protest about an African oil pipeline the other day had no black faces in evidence should have told them something….
We won’t be able to to shut down the Climate Change Committee until dozy , ignorant, Tory MPs are prepared to do so. I have been horrified by the ignorance of Tory MPs about what CO2 is and how insignificant it is, They are just head in the sand fools on this subject.
And the “Tory” part of “Tory MPs” is a bit of a stretch ?
Just call them TINO (Tory In Name Only).
It is still beyond shocking that the “tories” are even perpetuating the “climate”, “green” and “net zero” madness at all. They should have stamped out this hoax / scam / fraud long ago.
What is needed is immediate repeal of all “climate” laws.
>>And the “Tory” part of “Tory MPs” is a bit of a stretch
When he was Minister for Energy and Climate Change Mr Hancock was not aware that electricity once generated has to be used or stored, it doesn’t just hang around in a big green cloud awaiting a politician’s convenience..
JF
If Debden thinks that the African countries will take any notice of what we are doing here he is more of a fool than I thought. Imagine saying to one of country’s leaders ” I know you have a lot of oil and it will make you and your countrymen richer and enable you to tackle malnutrition, disease and other poverty elated issues but we would rather like it if you gave it all up to stop CO2 increasing in the atmosphere.” They would regard you as mad quite rightly. Perhaps we should send him over there to talk to them.
Just been on C4 news the man is deluded at least a bit of push back from presenter and at long last exposing the fact that most of the equipment has to be imported
I am reasonably sure that Drax coal and the historic West Burton plant will be with us next winter. National Grid does not have the clout to get it done. Acknowledging the basic motivator or fear and greed, the MPs will find a way.
It’s called emergency diesel generators.
Whatever it is, the rate payers will be paying the fixed cost for it.
Agreed, CO2 is insignificant with regard to the warming(or not)of the world climate. In terms of importance to the continued existence of all life on this planet however, it it not merely significant, but absolutely vital!
‘Climate Change Committee says UK no longer a world leader’
Whah! Whah!
BUT, rejoice, you still are! Since no one else is even playing the game.
‘World likely to warm beyond key 1.5C limit by 2027’
Limit? They keep using that word, but I don’t think they know what it means.
None of them know what any of the sound bits they spout mean. I had to explain to someone what green is and how the word has actually been hijacked (like so many other words in our once beautiful language) and that what they actually mean is brown and grey because without CO2 therefore without photosynthesis those will be the two commonest colours.
Wasn’t it above 2 not long ago? They keep dialling it down to ramp up the fear factor.
The story as I got it (and remember the 2° was plucked out of the air by Schellnhuber, or one of his sidekicks) was that it was becoming abundantly clear that the 2° threshold was never going to be reached within the foreseeable future but that 1.5° was “on” and the appropriate program was written to provide cover.
(Cynic? Who, me?)
It was also felt in some quarters that the whole 2° scam was failing to stir the masses (or even in some cases the politicians) sufficiently and the lower figure might provide a bit of urgency.
What we are desperately missing at the moment is one of the major philanthropists to jump ship and start sponsoring serious research into the real state and likely progress of the climate and the real effect on civilisations of exploiting known reserves to the benefit of mankind.
There’s one out there somewhere, I’m sure.
We were only a world leader in setting targets and banning things, nor in actually doing anything. But these fools think actions plans, targets and PowerPoint presentations are actually doing something. The arrogance of them, telling us all how we should live is breathtaking. It makes Louus XVI’s regime look in touchcwith common folk.
Well stated.
It is reification fallacy. They think ‘targets’ are concrete.
The “impartial” BBC gave the old fool free rein to spout all kinds of science and economics free gibberish today without one single challenge to any of the nonsense dribbling from his maw. I have no idea where to start. His wilful ignorance of the issue covered up by activist sound bites would be funny if it were not so serious. He is a high priest of anti science and anti common sense and is being paid out of OUR taxes.
And the CCC and the BBC both ignore theci disputation economic fact that preventing us doing elwhat we value – eating neat, flying, driving- makes us much poorer. They don’t include those losses as costs.
I cannot see that the advice of the CCC is in our best interests. Have they given up any pretence of independent scrutiny of a manageable way towards the (probably unattainable) target of net zero?
We should let our American friends lead on this and laugh all the way to the bank!
Americans aren’t actually doing anything.
‘He said the country risked falling behind without a response to initiatives like the US’s vast subsidies for green industries.’
Now that the Republicans have control of Congress, outlays to Friends of Obama, ‘green industries,’ have been severely curtailed. But one wonders what sort of bizarre logic would have one think ‘a response to initiatives’ makes any sense at all?
As always this slimey little turd leaves nasty taste in the mouth. I hope he dies of new variant kreuzfeld jacobs with covid complications. Ofallthe loathsome treacherous barrel-swilling swine he is the worst although i imagine most his committee are cut from the same cloth
John Selwyn Ummagumma should endure the fate of Sisyphus and Eugene should not have been careful with that axe.
Gummer’s credibility has never recovered since his burger eating stunt when Agriculture Minister in 1990 during the BSE crisis. Perhaps he was the inspiration for that other champion of climate change Ed Miliband and his bacon butty PR disaster.
How can either of these deluded fools still be in public positions? Utterly useless the pair of them.
My Message to the Today programme this morning immediately after the Lord Deben conversation…..
“I refer to the “interview” with Lord Deben a few minutes ago.
This was rather an uninterrupted statement without a single question being put by the interviewer!
This is concerning the biggest change in Western civilisation for 150 years, costing everyone eye watering amounts of money for very doubtful benefits, being imposed without the consent of the population, and you just go along with it without any question. Why?
“We have just experienced the hottest June we have ever had”. Really? It is still June I think, hot water bottle tonight I think, it’s quite chilly.
“Net Zero is legally binding so it must by Law be upheld” But what is the actual benefit? What data is available? Not a single question!
I won’t go on as I have totally lost faith in the Corporation.
The BBC have completely lost all journalistic integrity.
Earlier in the day Justin Rowlatt was also allowed to put his views without any questions. My response to that was as below. Two messages in one day! However we should keep on writing to them, as if we do not they will carry on blindly misleading the Public.
” I have just heard Justin Rowlatt on the Today programme. Rowlatt is an extremist and climate campaigner, who spoke to Just Stop Oil at Glastonbury, not an objective unbiased correspondent that the BBC constantly tell us you are.
Rowlatt stated that the new coal mine in Cumbria and the authorisation of new licences for oil and gas, would cause us to “lose our Global lead in tackling climate change”.
No questions were asked by the interviewer, as usual!
Suggestions below.
How can we say we lead the world in tackling climate change by simply exporting our manufacturing of products we buy to Asia, which is creating more pollution than the rest of the world put together?
Why is it a good idea to import dirty coal from China across the oceans rather than use our own quality coal?
On many occasions Wind provides tiny amounts of our Electricity.
On May 5th all the wind farms in the UK at a cost of around £65Billion provided less than 3% of our Electricity Gas provided 58%. How does Rowlatt intend to keep the lights on? Insist on Data and Analysis rather than idealistic generalisations.
Why does the BBC never question Net Zero, the actual benefits (if any) if the target is reached, with Data and Analysis of how it would actually change the climate beneficially.
The cost of Net Zero, legally imposed upon the Public without consultation or agreement, has been estimated by the OBR recently at over £51,000 per every one of the 27 million households in the UK over 20 years. The BBC never question the justification for this.
The BBC and Today, which used to be a respected investigative programme, is now just a part of the politically correct propaganda being perpetrated to the Public, unless you start demonstrating the “objective and unbiased ” high standards you keep boasting about.
Thanks. Please let us know whether and how the Today programme responds.
Hi Hugh The Today programme have an automatic reply saying that although they read everything, they cannot respond as they receive so many messages, unsurprisingly……..
cue image of tumbleweed rolling across the desert
Very good and it will be interesting to hear their response.
Colin Fernandez was at it again in the Daily Mail claiming this June will exceed the previous mean average of 14.9C set in 1940 and 1976. His reason for this is climate change driven by human use of fossil fuel. Here in Cheshire it has just been nice and warm, until this week when the heating came on.
‘Climate Change Committee says UK no longer a world leader’.
The idea that we are a world leader and others will join us on the bus is ludicrous. They aren’t on the same ‘Net Zero at all costs’ bus as we are, they are on a bus headed in the opposite direction towards prosperity for their people.
CEO gets £140,000. Must be awful living a lie. Is Vice Chair Baroness Brown still a director of Oersted Energy, the giant Danish windmiller?
“Is Vice Chair Baroness Brown still a director of Oersted Energy, the giant Danish windmiller? ”
She was only there for the DONG!
Incontestably the UK is a world leader in cringeworthy hand wringing bleating and green corruption, giving it all away to key competitors, Germany, Japan, China and India. The latter mentioned do not give a flying monkey’s about the green agenda unless to finish off the UK’s remnant manufacturing industry. And of Gimmer, is a bought and paid for clown laughing all the way to the bank.
BBC struggling to claim China is our saviour whilst devouring ever more coal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66043485
The Crown Estate is making record cash from wind leases.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/29/crown-estate-enjoys-huge-rise-in-profits-thanks-to-offshore-wind
Deben should be sent to Tiananmen Square to demonstrate his entusiasm for NetZero?
What an absurdly ignorant and pompous ass Deben is, to be sure!
Whether or not the UK is, or ever was, a “climate leader” is irrelevant to the hard facts of Global CO2 emissions which is that UK could sink beneath the waves tonight and the difference caused to Global emissions of CO2 would be negligible. The latest Statistical Review of World Energy, published by the EI and BP on 26th June shows that since 2000, while Europe’s and the USA’s emissions have decline by 22% and 12% respectively, the Asia Pacific Region’s has increased by 134%.
Global CO2 emissions, driven largely by the need for economic growth in Asia and even more in Africa and the Middle East, rose again last year.
Fossil fuels delivered 82% of Global primary energy in 2022, whereas “renewables” in the form of electricity generated from sun and wind delivered 7.5%.
China delivered 29% of this very modest contribution to Global primary energy supply, Europe as a whole delivered 24% whereas the “Saudi Arabia of wind energy”, as the ridiculous Boris Johnson boasted, delivered 5%.
The UK’s shockingly high, post-Ukraine invasion cost of living is largely due to its bizarrely useless “net zero” policies, insisted upon by the stupid laws legislated by the UK’s technically ignorant politicians. Inflation won’t be saved by raising the bank rate. Increased mortgage payments will cause misery to millions of Brits who also suffer the worst effects of rising energy costs.
The World’s still rising population will simply have to adjust to the consequences of increasing CO2 emissions because there is simply far too much massive poverty in Asia and Africa which costly, intermittent “renewables” have clearly failed to address. Affordable energy is essential to reduce human and animal labour in the production of food and other goods.
Sorry to be so despairing of the UK. I live in Denmark where, this week, its bizarrely ambitious plans to deliver “net zero” were halted because, at last, the politicians have woken up to its unconscionable costs.
And then we have King Charles still promoting the Climate change scam against royalty rules.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/06/28/king-charles-helps-unveils-climate-countdown-clock-at-london-summit/
They are not going to give up, they are ramping up the rhetoric every day.
Apparently he’s turned down the heating in Buck House
It doesn’t come cheap.
Why you’ve already put £15,500 towards net zero without realising
Tax experts criticise decision to reimpose green levies while households are still struggling
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/renewable-energy/green-levies-energy-bills-net-zero-15500/
Sorry if this is paywalled it’s OK on the Brave browser on my phone
” Why you’ve already put £15,500 towards net zero without realising ”
Working on the basis of 30 million households in the UK, that’s £465 billion.
Could buy a lot of coal-fired power stations and coal for that.
Thanks to people like Gummer the UK already has the most expensive domestic electricity prices in Europe. And it will only get worse.
https://www.energypriceindex.com/price-data
Has he gone yet.
Is this not the same John Gummer who as MP claimed £9000 expenses for gardening?
Lord Deben – technical illiterate, did History at Cambridge. As Selwyn Gummer and member of CoE Synod strongly opposed women Bishops. When eventually beaten he joined the Catholic Church!
He is very well connected in all sorts of directions so can cause all manner of problems and start all kinds of reactionary groups like CCC.
The fact the University of East Anglia with its dodgy “warming” history gave him an honorary Doctorate of Science, yes science, tells us a great deal about the UEA and Gummer/Deben.
No doubt Gummer will be pleased to hear that Drax and French company EDF are refusing to allow the use of their coal power stations this winter to keep the lights on, leaving only German company’s Uniper Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant. A sensible government would issue compulsory purchase orders but then it is decades since we had a sensible government. National Grid’s Jake Rigg trots out the ‘Russia’ excuse about supply problems which is irrelevant to the UK but covers up the political failure to manage the grid.
“Compulsory purchase order” and “sensible government” are contradictions . The threats of those actually woke up the electorate in the Netherlands – Dutc Farmers Party
An actually sensible government would stop meddling in the market and stop inventing taxes, regulations and even bans in general and stop perpetuating the “climate”, “green” and “net zero” scams in particular.
>> A sensible government would issue compulsory purchase orders
O / T, Nigel Farage faces having his bank accounts closed. This is the modern UK?
Beyond disgraceful.
Where is his registered domicile? If it’s not in the UK then that might be the reason.
I know a couple of people living in the EU who’ve had UK accounts closed since Brexit. PreBrexit it wasn’t allowed to have a UK bank account, but wasn’t enforced strictly.
Irrespective of where people actually live, it is simply wrong that people with British nationality and right of abode can have UK bank accounts closed or even not opened in the first place.
>>If it’s not in the UK then that might be the reason.
” Nigel Farage faces having his bank accounts closed. ”
GB News should be all over this, as should TalkRadio.
Farage recently won an award for broadcasting, and got kicked out of the event
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/nigel-farage-kicked-out-tric-30338849
Some words I never thought I would write: Go Nigel !
They’re scared of Nigel, and with good reason.
This is the sort of pure authoritarianism that the Nazis would have been proud of.
They must not be permitted to get away with it.
It would seem the Parliament and Bureaucracy are unable to walk and chew gum at the same time. This monomaniacal push for the unattainable will bring the country to its knees, and when that happens, as we say in the west, Katie bar the door.
Strangely, or perhaps not, it was yesterday that Deben cried that the UK was slipping behind the steps of net zero that, here in Paris, the dame in his equivalent position was saying the same thing, the same day. almost at the same time.
https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/france-monde/la-france-n-est-pas-prete-a-faire-face-aux-effets-du-changement-climatique?queryId%5Bquery1%5D=57cd2206459a452f008b4594&queryId%5Bquery2%5D=57c95b34479a452f008b459d&page=26&pageId=57da5ce0459a4552008b456b
The CCC, says that “only roads that advance the net zero cause, that get people out of cars rather than make life better or easier for motorists, should be allowed.”
Their cunning determination to control all of our lives is scary.
Can we just call him “Gummer” in future as there is a high likelihood I reckon that he’ll hear about it and be annoyed – and that will be a good thing.