Amongst accusations that Tony Blair has contradicted the Government, Ed Miliband and net-zero, and the counter claims that he fully backs Miliband, Starmer and net-zero, there is what the ex-prime minister actually said.

In an article, The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change, published on the rather modestly titled Tony Blair Institute for Global Change website, Blair argued that “the old climate playbook isn’t working. We need a political strategy that wins, and that ends the net-zero culture war. We need to rebuild public trust in climate policy, and for that, politicians need to start with showing the public they are listening – and delivering.”

Indeed, he backs a fast transition but recognised that richer countries that had reduced emissions significantly and were making very limited contributions to emissions no longer wanted to make sacrifices.

Blair expanded this by saying that “by 2030 almost two-thirds of global emissions will come from China, India and South-East Asia. Yet the global financial flows for renewable energy in the developing world have fallen and not risen in the past few years.

“These are the inconvenient facts, which mean that any strategy based on either “phasing out” fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail.

It is the “doomed to fail” bit that has created much controversy.

Because he goes on to say: “None of this invalidates the inconvenient truth that the climate is changing, and to our detriment – or that this is one of the fundamental challenges of our time. Nor does it mean we shouldn’t continue to deploy renewable energy, which is both necessary and cost-effective.”

At heart, what the document is, is a pragmatic view that until renewable technologies are cheaper overall, there will continue to be global use of fossil fuels, and that pressing ahead with technological development is therefore a necessary precursor to net-zero, and must be accelerated.

Full text here.

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