The advantage is that, when he speaks, many members of the Labor Party and many of his voters still listen carefully. The ability is to put the finger on the sore in matters that politicians in exercise, for fear or strategy, avoid. Through Tony Blair Institute por Global Change (Tonny Blair Institute for global change), the veteran politician has claimed, in his personal introduction to a complete analysis of the organism under the name Climate paradox: why do we need to restart action against climate changeand has pointed out that the current debate is being “fragmented by irrationality.”
The document presented by Blair, together with the blackout in Spain, have given wings to the conservative opposition to attack the zero emission policy of the Keir Starmer Labor Government.
“The majority of people who admit that climate change is a reality caused by human activity are in turn moving away from the policies deployed in this area because they believe that the proposed solutions are not based on a good criteria,” the former Labor Prime Minister says with a begging in its introduction.
Blair points out in the text that developed countries are claiming their voters to carry out a series of economic sacrifices and changes in their lifestyle, and that those same voters are aware that the impact of all these sacrifices on the global reduction of emissions is minimal.
To that disenchantment of many citizens, Blair points out, the resentment of many emerging countries to which the investment necessary to generate the energy they need for their development is united, because it is not “green” energy.
“They believe, rightly, that they have the right to develop, and that those who have already developed thanks to the use of fossil fuels do not have the right to prevent them from accessing the media they consider more effective for their development,” he explains.
Investment in carbon capture
Blair urges in their text to governments greater emphasis and a greater investment in carbon emissions capture technologies than in objectives to reduce these emissions that it considers unrealistic and difficult to put into practice, with the current global levels of economic growth.
In the last fifteen years, “despite the explosion in renewable energies and that electric vehicles have become the fastest growth sector of the engine market,” the demand for fossil fuels has continued to increase. China and India continue to drive macroprojects of coal power plants. India has come to announce the production record of one billion tons of coal in a single year.
“Too often, political leaders are afraid of saying what many of them know that it is true: the current strategy is not working. But they should not remain silent. A new coalition can be stood, that one to disenchanted activists with legislators and technical experts willing to take actions,” says Blair.
At no time does the former prime minister who must move on the development of renewable energies – “necessary and efficient in their cost” -, but ask that the focus and destiny of resources be changed.
“More Nuclear”
“Nuclear energy will be an essential part of the answer,” Blair adventure. “The confusion with nuclear weapons and the consequent irrational fear generated, intensified by exaggerated campaigns, has led the world to make a flagrant mistake, by turning its back on this source of energy since the eighties. If this energy had embraced, the recorded trajectory of global emissions would have varied significantly,” he defends. “The new generation of small modular reactors is a hope of rebirth of nuclear energy, but it must be integrated into national energy policies,” says Blair.
The approach of the veteran politician clashes with that of the current British prime minister, also the Labor Keir Starmer, who last week, said that the fight against climate change was “in the DNA of his government”, and that he had no intention of delaying it but rather to accelerate it.
“Political leaders know that all this debate has become irrational,” says Blair. “But they are terrified to say it, for fear of being accused of ‘denialists’. When reasonable people do not report how a campaign is directed, the campaign is in the hands of those willing to alienate the same public opinion on whose consent they depend precisely the policies applied,” he says.
The problem of many Tony Blair interventions, including the latter, is that the nuances or subtleties they may contain are lost in the political debate, and the final impression is that the former prime minister ends up aligning with the right. In fact, little has taken the United Kingdom conservative party to welcome Blair: “It seems that Tony Blair has also realized that the crazy race towards the zero broadcasting target in 2050, both Keir Starmer and the Labor Party, is neither realizable nor sustainable,” said the energy spokesman for the main opposition party, Andrew Bowie.
About Spain …
The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, who has made a flag in recent years of questioning the fight against climate change, has rushed to point out as a direct cause of the blackout suffered this Monday by Spain and Portugal to excessive dependence in renewables. “Some have talked about cyber -terrorism, but I think that I most likely is that the cause is on the network itself. When your electricity supply depends excessively on renewables, a great battery storage is needed. We are seeing very often how renewable thought, ”said Badenoch.
The Starmer government has not taken long to respond to the opposition leader through a spokesman: “They are unfounded statements and speculations,” he said. “It’s too early to confirm the exact cause of the incident [del apagón de España]. The transition from an energy generated by fossil fuels to another generated in a native and clean way, such as renewables and other clean technologies, offers us security and supply that fossil fuels are unable to provide, ”said Downing Street spokesman.
