Floods have ended political debate about climate change impacts, argues former energy minister
Poor energy policy can “bring down governments” warned former energy minister Charles Hendry. That makes it a scary job for politicians naturally preoccupied with staying in power, particularly as climate change returns as a political issue.
Hendry spent five years watching from the opposition benches as shadow energy minister while a series of Labour politicians struggled with one of the country’s most high profile policy portfolios. When the Conservatives formed a coalition government In 2010, the prime minister handed him the brief, before replacing him in 2012 with John Hayes – ending Hendry’s seven years at the sharp end of UK energy politics.
So, what advice does he have for those now occupying the berth? Speaking to a room of students at scholars at the UK Energy Research Centre’s headquarters in Imperial College last week, Hendry said making good energy policy is all about risk management – and that includes thinking about the dangers posed by climate change.
Hendry said the storms and flooding still battering parts of the UK have fundamentally changed the political debate around addressing the impacts of climate change.
Hendry argued that the recent extreme weather should finally “put to bed” political arguments around the need to reduce energy sector emissions, and make it easier to persuade his colleagues in the Conservative party that investing in low carbon energy sources is worthwhile.
Depoliticising the energy debate
That doesn’t mean decarbonising the UK’s energy sector is going to be easy, however. Hendry said that after he spent years trying to keep politics out of energy policy, he was “saddened” to see the issue dragged on to front pages last Autumn when the Labour party pledged to freeze household energy bills.
Such politicking makes it harder to encourage the kind of long term investment the UK’s energy sector needs, Hendry argued – ultimately costing consumers.
He said political uncertainty makes banks less willing to lend energy companies money, driving up the cost of borrowing, with those costs passed on to consumers. That’s particularly problematic for low carbon energy sources, Hendry argued, as windfarms and nuclear plants need a lot of upfront investment.
But Hendry said climate change makes it imperative that the UK is a renewable energy leader, and politicians of all stripes should work together to ensure that’s the case – which means toning down rhetoric over household energy bills.
Climate leader
Hendry said efforts to reduce emissions are inseparable from ramping up renewable generation, and that the recent floods should help persuade politicians from all sides that climate action is necessary:
“The terrible floods we are seeing at the moment, I think, will put to bed this issue about mitigation, about the precautionary principle. I’ve always argued as a politician that if you think there is a 90 per cent chance of something going wrong, even if you think it’s a 20 per cent chance, of something going wrong, then it is beholden on policymakers to the measures [to reduce the threat].”
He argued that the recent extreme weather in the UK and across the world gave the impression that something of “enormous magnitude is happening”.
While he said some politicians would still argue over whether climate change was caused by human activity, political debates about the potential impacts of climate change was now “over”. Consequently, Hendry said it is now time for the UK to “show leadership” on addressing climate change – and take the risks seriously.