If you have nothing substantial to say, make sure you say it at great length, larding it generously with adjectives, uplifting sentiments and visions of the broad sunlit uplands in the far distance. Thus it was this week that Boris Johnson launched his Net Zero Strategy, 1,868 pages (and counting, thanks to Simon Evans of Carbon Brief) of aspirations, plans and dreams for the carbon-free future. There is almost no meaningful number with a pound sign in front of it anywhere. Please do not call this magical thinking.
Besides, there is nothing magical about a heat pump, which is merely a reverse refrigerator, so why should they not get 25 to 50 per cent cheaper to install in four years’ time? Why not suggest that they will be no more expensive to buy and run than gas boilers by 2030? Ah, that one is easy: “rebalance” energy prices to make it so, but nothing as vulgar as an admission of higher taxes on gas. There are over 200 pages of this sort of well-meaning drivel, larded with uplifting examples of sterling progress, soothing expressions about working with the grain of the market, avoiding one-size-fits-all and coy little admissions like “electric heating appliances, such as heat pumps, are only low-carbon if the electricity used to run them is generated from low-carbon sources.”
