 Xi Jinping has ordered 1GW of new coal plants for every 6GW of renewables as back-up power, so the two go hand in hand; b) that the levelised cost of coal power in China is $74/MWh compared to $34/MWh for onshore wind (BNEF data), and cannot compete; and c) that the regime is building redundant coal capacity as an insurance policy. It fears that the US could cut off maritime gas supplies in a future conflict. It was also traumatised by blackouts in 2021 and 2022. If these plants are ever used, they will mostly sit idle. S&P Global says capacity use was 70pc in 2000s, 53pc last year, and will fall to 26pc by 2050 as they are converted to peaker plants, and most will have carbon capture by then. The larger point is that Britain needs green energy rearmament as a matter of national economic survival. It is not clear to me where Sir Tony discerns his huge burden, or how Lord Hammond conjures his £1 trillion bill for net zero . A joint report by the International Monetary Fund and the IEA concluded that decarbonisation will halve energy costs worldwide from 4pc to 2pc of disposable income by mid-century. It said a rapid switch to clean tech raises global economic growth by 0.4pc a year this decade, and is therefore a gain, not a cost. It cuts average household energy and fuel bills from $2,800 to $2,300 a year by 2030 in advanced countries, and is even better for the world's poor – the cheapest way to reach 800 million people with no electricity. This is an unstoppable global juggernaut. It does no){kind=link}
Our leaders risk losing a years-long lead in the energy race by clinging to obsolete technology
Et tu, Sir Tony Blair? For a man who moves in the highest levels of global statecraft, our eminence grise is remarkably out of touch on the geo-economics of the energy revolution. He falls for every fallacy of yesteryear.
After reading his New Statesman interview I am forced to conclude that he does not understand the elemental threat staring us in the face: that clean tech will entirely change the global economic system, not at some distant date but this decade; and that China is currently (but not irreversibly) running away with the great prize of the 21st century.
Any country that ducks this challenge and props up an uncompetitive legacy system will lose its economic footing and slide into irrelevance. Such a course is akin to opting out of the early industrial revolution, sticking to horse-power as others embrace the steam engine.
The Sunak government is dangerously close to going down this route.