Elite hysteria

A common misconception held by climate and Net Zero sceptics is that the green agenda is driven by public opinion. The Opposite is the case.

I often get seemingly ‘on-side’ replies that I find disappointing. The logic of one of those kinds of claims holds that the green agenda exists because the public has bought into climate alarmism, perhaps by being bombarded by green propaganda, and this has driven politicians to enact green policy. This hypothesis is something approximate to ‘mass hysteria’.

But I believe this view is completely false. Worse, I believe that the idea of a public at large with such limited competences is actively harmful in confronting the green agenda.

As I have pointed out elsewhere, the last year or so has seen a sea-change in the climate debate. The Net Zero-sceptic MPs have found their voices (at last), and even former members of the government have joined the small, but growing chorus. In the early days of this, something of a micro-culture war broke out in the Tory fold, and this in turn led to the smallest possible of U-turns on the looming sales targets (a ban by the back door) of domestic gas boilers and petrol and diesel cars. Eco-wets, such as the now ex-MP, and Net Zero instigator, Chris Skidmore, argued that the party’s emerging scepticism risked alienating the voter, who had expressed a desire for Net Zero. In support of this claim, newspapers were filled with sponsored content, authored by green blob wonks, citing opinion polls that showed that, yes, respondents seemed to want green policies.