REGULATED TO DEATH FOR NOTHING

 I often get sent articles to do with climate and recently I received one which made me realise what is likely to be coming our way here in the UK. Below is a short extract:

"The UK has already signed up to Net Zero by 2050 and, legally, every business must do the same. 

 

That probably still feels like a long way off, so how about 2023 instead?  While COP26 may not have fulfilled all aspirations, a very significant announcement was made by Westminster just before the start of the conference, stating that all large businesses and public organisations must have a plan for Net Zero by 2023. 

 

You may think that you are not a large business. But you probably do business with large businesses and public bodies – or, if not, you are likely to be a supplier to someone else who does – and true measurement runs end to end, including the full supply chain up and downstream. 

 

This means that, if you want to be part of the supply chain, you must have a plan yourself.  And, by the way, most companies need to start planning a year before the deadline date – so if you haven’t got this in hand by the end of next year, your business probably won’t survive very long. "

If you skim through the above extract, you can easily dismiss it as just more waffle, but if you look at it a bit more carefully and analyse what it says, it is actually the start of a nightmare for the businesses of the UK. "Every business has to have a plan for Net Zero by 2023".

 I don't recall this being announced. But just imagine the complexity of complying with it. It would be more complex than filling in your tax return, and it would need to show each year up to 2050. Think of all the new jobs for "climate compliance officers", and the number of plans that all businesses would have to write and then check with all their suppliers. 

No doubt the government would require all these plans to be checked by some vast new Net Zero compliance department employing tens of thousands of civil servants. (These must be the new "green jobs" the government keeps talking about.) It would need to be at least as big as HMRC.

Is this included in the £1.4 trillion estimate of Net Zero given by the government? I doubt it. We are all going to have to pay for this regulation in higher prices and taxes. Welcome to the new "1984-style" world of the (near) future.

The article was written by the head of a business consulting firm, who obviously is delighted to see all this come in. Here is a bit more of it describing what must be in the Net Zero plan:

(My comments in red)

"Fuel for heating and transport, electricity, and everything else upstream and downstream such as business travel or transportation of goods. Every item has a carbon value from its production.  This means EVERYTHING. (that's nice and simple)

 

If every single business measured everything, then suddenly it would become a lot easier.   Expect regulation in the not-too-distant future which demands that every single item lists its carbon rating – just as we have the traffic light system on food today. (who bothers to read that?)

 

Once you know how big your carbon footprint is, and what is driving it, you can take action to reduce it. Next, set a target and a plan. Make it achievable but realistic. As this becomes more prevalent, both consumers and businesses will only want to deal with those taking action, so don’t leave this to the last minute. (most consumers won't care, but that won't stop the government)

 

Keep tracking and keep taking actions to reduce. Once you get down to the last 10%, then, certainly, go and plant some trees." (that's if you are still in business!)

So if this is true we can look forward to sky high prices and bankruptcies galore, mass unemployment and shortages. I loved this bit: "If every single business measured everything, then suddenly it would become a lot easier."  A lot easier for who, I wonder?