The climate change debate has become riven with ‘irrationality’ and ‘hysteria’ and needs a pragmatic reset to win over voters, Tony Blair warns today.
The former Labour prime minister said that while most people in developed countries like the UK believe it is real they are turning away from the politics because of the sacrifices they are being asked to make.
In a forward to a new report by his Institute for Global Change he said there needs to be a switch from ‘protest to pragmatic policy’ because ‘the current approach isn’t working’.
He questioned the Net Zero move to phase out fossil fuels, pointing out that their use is increasing, not falling, and due to predicted energy demand, especially in the developing world, that would continue.
‘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,’ he wrote.
‘Political leaders by and large know that the debate has become irrational. But they’re terrified of saying so, for fear of being accused of being ”climate deniers”.
‘As ever, when sensible people don’t speak up about the way a campaign is being conducted, the campaign stays in the hands of those who end up alienating the very opinion on which consent for action depends’.
Despite having been an adviser to COP host Azerbaijan last year, he also criticised the annual UN climate summits as ‘a forum that frankly doesn’t have the heft to drive action and impact.’
Hellbound and Down 