Lammy in China
Among the topics of conversation between U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at their meeting last week was, according to the FCDO “shared interests, including a global green energy transition”. The Labour government believes that it can lead the world in this “transition”, and that to secure this position, the UK must become a “clean energy superpower by 2030”, requiring the total decarbonisation of the power sector by that time. But the statistics reveal the very different natures of the two government’s “shared interests” and raise the question of what Lammy thinks he was doing in Beijing and Shanghai.
Britain’s army of green wonks, at some point in the last decade or so, have got it into their heads that China is the model of green transition. This is because China invests heavily in the production and deployment of green technology. Between 2013 and 2023, China’s annual electricity generated from wind increased from 376 TWh to 2,301 TWh – an increase of 612%. Britain’s wind power fleet meanwhile produced 77 TWh in 2013, rising to 213 TWh in 2023 – an increase of 276%.
To read the rest of this article, you need to donate at least £5/month or £50/year to the Daily Sceptic, then create an account on this website. The easiest way to create an account after you’ve made a donation is to click on the ‘Log In’ button on the main menu bar, click ‘Register’ underneath the sign-in box, then create an account, making sure you enter the same email address as the one you used when making a donation. Once you’re logged in, you can then read all our paywalled content, including this article. Being a Donor will also entitle you to comment below the line and access the premium content in the Sceptic, our weekly podcast. A one-off donation of at least £5 will also entitle you to the same benefits for one month. You can donate here.
There are more details about how to create an account, and a number of things you can try if you’re already a donor – and have an account – but cannot access the above perks on our Premium page.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Lammy looks like he needs to take up that favourite pastime of Labour foreign ministers: hill walking…..the (282) Munros……why not? You never know….it might work?
Wonderful to remember my grand parents & parents + all their relatives involvement in two wars, not of their making, to save England they were told & yet here we are with the most complete buffoon ever to represent our once great country !
Britain’s Net Zero Makes China Richer
Hang on we in Australia will be the global energy superpower. We said it first. Then along came Trudeau, Sleepy Joe and all the others wanting to be superpowers too. Fair suck of the sauce bottle mate
That’s doubtlessly a phrase invented by some professional PR guys working for the UN which is supposed to be used to sell this Quatsch¹ to electorates all over the world.
¹ German for nonsense.
I’m sure it’s lovely being able to describe yourself as a superpower in something, however the skill the Chinese seem to bring, is doing it AND making a living out of it
Australia will be a global superpower in sabotaging its energy generation
At the last count China has 3100 coal fired power plants! How many does Britain have?
If only we did share that interest with China!
Ben, great article, thanks. The CO2 graph since 1700 is really interesting. The UK’s output across the Industrial Revolution doesn’t even compare to the output from China. How can anyone in the Green camp factually believe we are the sinners of CO2 output?
Don’t ever forget, it’s not about atmospheric chemistry…….
“A clean energy superpower” with the highest electricity prices in the world and where the old and poor have to use as little energy as possible or they won’t eat. If they don’t ration their energy use then the smart meter will do it for them. —–What kind of “Superpower” is this supposed to be?
Well said.
That utter simpleton is so far out of his depth I can scarcely express it. The Chinese must be in equal parts wonder and mirth at how far the British State has fallen, and how it has halfwits like this now representing it on the world stage.
Hmm, Boris Johnson was foreign secretary for a while…
Yes, a buffoon, but Boris Johnson is intelligent and has a brain. David Lammy is clearly not intelligent at all.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when they discuss these things afterwards – they do well to keep a straight face
Caption: “…and this, Comrades, is the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. Watch me pull his strings!”
As always a great article from Ben. And his final paragraph is spot on. But it’s all very well to say his solution is ‘not easy’ – in truth it’s damned difficult. I’ve yet to see anyone indicate a realistic plan for bringing it about. And, until someone does, it’s not gonna happen. So, for what its worth here’s my suggestion: A major obstacle is that it seems that most people in the UK subscribe to the view that that the Net Zero policy is broadly necessary. Therefore what’s needed first is to change that. I believe that might be possible if the soon-to-be-appointed Tory leader were to take it on as a key priority (admittedly a big if). If so, I suggest that he or she should start a detailed campaign now demonstrating the utter foolishness of Labour’s handling of the policy. Then, as that view begins to get established – reinforced by people’s practical experience of the damage the policy’s doing to living standards – to taper that criticism into criticism of the policy itself and then into a call for radical change as advocated by Ben. As it’s likely to be 4 or 5 years before the… Read more »
Politicians are very adept at following public opinion, as demonstrated by our current illustrious PM. If they think there are votes to be gained, they’ll happily flip-flop til the cows come home (unless the cows have been euthanised to control methane emissions). But the key to public opinion surely has to be the MSM, and how on earth do intelligent free-thinking individuals get them to stop spewing out their constant net zero propaganda and start thinking about what they’re saying?
Tories won’t flip flop on this subject – they are as bought and paid for as the rest of them… they’ve pushed this for 14 years
China is not stupid. It is that simple!
China, unlike most other countries, actually have a very long term plan – 50 years + if I remember reading correctly… they don’t flip from one objective to the next based on Twitter posts, they set an objective, devise a strategy and implement it, adjusting as needed on the way. And at the moment, you have to say, they are doing a pretty good job – at least from the outside it looks like that. Can’t speak for their population of course, who may or may not be enjoying the experience
How difficult is it to fool David Lammy?
The shared interest is obviously the somewhat asymmetric situation that the UK will need lots of green energy technology gadgets China can produce cheaply and would very much like to sell, ie, that both Lammy (and to government he represents) and Wang Yi share an interest in the well-being of the Chinese “green energy” industry and that neither of both care very much about the well-being of the UK and the people living here.
“China is fooling David Lammy…”
Requires little effort.
“Net Zero…” what?
Net Zero carbon emissions? (Whatever difference that will make)
Net Zero industry? (In the UK, probably, so we’ll be reliant on countries such as China)
Net Zero debate? (Green extremists want questioning climate change to be a criminal offence)
Net Zero free thought? (See above)
Net Zero wealth? (Thanks to green taxes and higher fuel pricess)
Net Zero freedom? (Travel will be unaffordable, and discouraged anyway)
All based on the UN/WEF idea that our lifestyles are “unsustainable” and we are to make do with less of EVERYTHING. —-And guess what, our Political Class are all fully onboard with our impoverishment and kiss the arses of the World Government people.
https://order-order.com/2024/10/21/government-hires-greenpeace-director-for-new-special-representative-for-nature-non-job/
Labour create another non-job as they seek to destroy our country.
They have a shared interest in destroying the West and selling Chinese solar panels to the UK
The most likely reason for little Lsmmy’s little jolly, is to confirm that China will mark up trade deals with “10% for the big guy.”
I always find it difficult when authors go along with the CO2 narrative. I thought the idea that CO2 was causing climate change was a fantasy? So if it is, why give it airtime? Why use it in argumentation?
I gather China is also building multiple nuclear power plants?
The whole climate narrative is so muddied.
The idea that humans can control the earth’s thermostat is odd, but at the same time maybe we should have a discussion about our increasing use of the earth’s resources and pollution? Which includes the building and decommissioning of solar panels and wind turbines by the way.
Haven’t got the time or energy to read and grasp the implications of this one – but the mere presence of Lammy in China, to say nothing of the possibility that he will actually speak to anyone, is simply terrifying.
If destroying our own industries, to achieve our saintly status of world exemplar, is the singular policy then we must tolerate the lack of undergarments if we are not to achieve our exemplar status without exporting our CO2 emissions.