You’re asking the wrong net zero questions

In his latest column, Neil Schofield at Worcester Bosch, ponders whether the right people are being asked the right questions when it comes to net zero:

When I finished my apprenticeship with British Gas, I was given a trusty Morris Marina van and was free to roam the suburbs of Birmingham to strangle pipe. Newly qualified and ready to take on the world, there was just one thing that was missing – a radio for the van. Given that the life of an installer involves spending a large amount of time on the road going from job to job, I put my engineering skills towards a nine-volt battery, gas fire tape and my dad’s Marconi radio and I was away.

It was during what was known as the Winter of Discontent but I happily chugged along with my radio. I was confined to one station which was The Light Programme (i.e. Radio 4). Going jollily from job to job, I would listen to The Archers and Women’s Hour and got hooked on news shows such as The Today Programme.

I loved the 8:10 slot in particular which was the political interview. The MP that was the grandmaster of political interviews at the time was Michael ‘Tarzan’ Heseltine and it was he who introduced me to the dynamic reply of ‘you’re asking the wrong question’. It was a stroke of genius as he would circumvent the questions he didn’t have an answer for and instead reframe and reply with what he wanted to say.

A Few More Questions

So how does this quick trip down memory lane relate to climate change and today’s challenge of net zero? Simply because the wrong questions are still being asked all these years later. Do you care about climate change? Well intentioned people will answer ‘well of course I do’, regardless of how sincere an answer that might be. This is a question that prompts lip service without much action and what can only be described as the wrong question. Let’s be realistic. The most pertinent question around net zero is – how are we going to pay for it?

Now we’re getting to the meat of the subject. This is the multi-billion-pound question (or thereabouts) that we need to pose to both politicians and consumers. On a government level, we need transparency and a concrete plan for how they propose to carry out the substantial task of changing the country’s infrastructure to achieve the lofty target of net zero by 2050, because right now, it feels like a pipe dream.

Next, we have to pose this question to the consumer. How are you going to pay for it? Britain is filled with consumers who mean well and would love to have a renewably fuelled home but in reality, may not have the capital to do so. Particularly as we tread deeper into the cost-of-living crisis.

Think of it as a simple equation. Once we know how much the consumer can contribute at a realistic and fair level, we must then subtract that from the cost of implementing greener infrastructure. Which leads to the next question – how do we find the answer to that? By asking those who know, the experts in the field; the installers. This is their bread and butter and I’d like to think that they are the authority on this topic, so why is it that politicians, academics and environmentalists are having all the input?

No chance of net zero?

Similarly with the catch phrase ‘net zero’. Every political party has signed up to the net zero commitment but how much substance does that hold? These are more in line with the questions that we need to be asking. It is all well and good to answer to say net zero is essential, but how much action follows?

Not only are the wrong questions being asked but worse still, the wrong people are being asked. It seems it is still only politicians, academics and green environmentalists who are being consulted. If you keep asking the wrong questions to the wrong people, you will invariably end up with the wrong answers. And for net zero to become a reality, this needs to stop pretty soon.