How Boris’s £1TRILLION green dream could hit YOU

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Boris Johnson yesterday unveiled his plan for turning Britain green by 2050 – but was warned by the Treasury that taxes and consumer costs could rise to cover the estimated £1trillion bill.

The PM has published the most detailed proposals yet for how the country will achieve the Net Zero ambition and contribute to the fight against climate change, rejecting alarm at the potential costs to families and businesses hit hard by the Covid pandemic.  

But the Treasury is already warning that the sprint to go green has a hefty price tag – and could lead to inflation and higher taxes. 

It estimates that carbon reduction targets will cost £60billion a year in capital costs alone.

Heating bills are likely to rise – possibly by more than 50 per cent – as households are forced to ditch gas boilers. 

The Treasury also warned that, with fuel duty alone raising more than £30 billion a year, new taxes such as road pricing would soon have to replace existing levies on carbon – a move currently being resisted by the PM.

Meanwhile, first-time buyers of poorly-insulated homes may struggle to get a mortgage under government proposals to make the housing stock greener, as mortgage lenders would have to disclose the energy performance of properties in their portfolio – and set themselves voluntary targets to improve the insulation of their houses. 

And official plans to replace traditional gas boilers with heat pumps came under fire as critics said a £5,000 grant for homeowners to install air or ground heat pumps are little more than a ‘middle-class bung’ for people who were going to switch to the technology anyway. 

Rishi Sunak’s department delivered a stark warning about the burden, saying the transition will have ‘material fiscal consequences’.

It acknowledged that the costs of global inaction on climate were greater than those of action, but the assessment said that the government must take into account ‘wider long-run pressures to the public finances’.

The analysis pointed out that government subsidies such as those for electric cars tend to favour the wealthy, while piling on costs for poorer families.

They said the bill for improving insulation varies massively between properties, from a few hundred pounds to nearly £8,500 for ‘non-standard dwellings’.

One chart flagged the huge range of possible outcomes from the Net Zero process – suggesting that heating, power and transport costs could rise from around £2,400 a year now to around £2,600 in 2050.

However, they could also fall to £1,800 at the optimistic end of the spectrum.

Insisting it is impossible to put a price on the overhaul, the Treasury said: ‘There will be demands on public spending, but the biggest impact comes from the erosion of tax revenues from fossil fuel-related activity,’ the paper said.

‘Any temporary revenues from expanded carbon pricing are unlikely to be sufficient to offset the structural decline in tax revenues, but will be important in supporting the transition and can help manage any demands for public spending to support the transition.

‘If there is to be additional public spending, the government may need to consider changes to existing taxes and new sources of revenue throughout the transition in order to deliver net zero sustainably, and consistently with the government’s fiscal principles.’

In what appeared to be a barb at Mr Johnson’s free-spending habits, the Treasury said: ‘Seeking to pass the costs onto future taxpayers through borrowing would deviate from the polluter pays principle, would not be consistent with intergenerational fairness nor fiscal sustainability, and could blunt incentives. This could also push up the economic cost of the transition.’

The Treasury did not attempt to calculate the total cost of the PM’s Net Zero plans. But Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the final bill would be ‘well over £1 trillion’, spread over the next 30 years.

He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘What is interesting is that the Treasury’s view is that most of that won’t come from us the taxpayer, it will come via us as consumers or from industry though private investment. But this is a manageable cost because £1trillion is a lot, but over 30 years, and given the amount we invest in all sorts of things in any case, it is manageable. But it is a pretty substantial sum over that period.’

Mr Sunak hopes that most of the cost of turning Britain’s economy green will be funded by the private sector. But the Treasury said ‘additional taxes’ would be needed if the Government is required to directly fund the transition to a greener economy.

The new strategy aims to turn Britain carbon neutral by 2050, making this country a world leader in the fight against climate change. It will involve massive investment in technologies like wind and nuclear to replace existing fossil fuel power stations.

But families will also have to pay to switch to greener fuels at home. The Government wants traditional gas boilers to be phased out from 2035. Petrol and diesel cars will be phased out from 2030. 

In other developments:

New guidance for banks could make it harder for people with poorly insulated homes to get a mortgage;Ministers ducked a decision on whether to press ahead with a major new nuclear power station at Sizewell C in Suffolk;The Government announced an extra £620million to drive sales of electric vehicles, despite Treasury warnings the subsidies were likely to disproportionately benefit the well-off;A further £625million has been set aside for planting trees and restoring peat bogs to soak up carbon;Ministers confirmed plans to put new ‘green levies’ on gas bills ‘when the current gas spike subsides’;Cyclists will get a boost, with thousands of miles of new bike lanes and plans for more ‘low-traffic neighbourhoods’ where cars are excluded;Ministers want Britain to become a world leader in developing ‘alternative proteins’ to encourage people to eat less meat;China gave a boost to the PM’s hopes for a successful Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow next month, saying it viewed the event as ‘deeply significant’;Critics warned that new £5,000 grants to encourage people to install heat pumps would only cover the installation of around 30,000 a year.

Mr Johnson insisted the plan would benefit both the UK and the planet in the long run. He said no-one would be forced to rip out their old boiler or sell their petrol car.

Defending the decision to go faster than bigger polluters like China, he said: ‘History has never been made by those who sit at the back of the class.’

He added: ‘The UK’s path to ending our contribution to climate change will be paved with well-paid jobs, billions in investment and thriving green industries, powering our green industrial revolution across the country.

‘By moving first and taking bold action, we will build a defining competitive edge in electric vehicles, offshore wind, carbon capture technology and more, whilst supporting people and businesses along the way.’

In a 135-page Net Zero Review, the Treasury acknowledged the need for the world to tackle climate change.

It said that left ‘unmitigated’, climate change would cause massive damage to the economy. The cost of ‘global inaction’ would ‘significantly outweigh the costs of action,’ the document said.

But it also warned that leading the charge against climate change could have major costs for UK taxpayers.

‘If there is to be additional public investment to support decarbonisation, it may need to be funded through additional taxes or reprioritised from other areas of government spending,’ the Treasury said.

Rejecting the case for higher borrowing, it said: ‘Seeking to pass the costs onto future taxpayers through borrowing would deviate from the polluter pays principle, would not be consistent with intergenerational fairness nor fiscal sustainability, and could blunt incentives. This could also push up the economic cost of the transition.’

The Treasury also warned that the Net Zero drive would place ‘upwards pressure on consumer prices of goods and services that are more carbon-intensive and can weaken the profitability of the companies that produce them’.

And it warned that jobs in some industries could be lost abroad if the rest of the world did not move at the same pace.

Labour climate spokesman Ed Miliband said the PM’s strategy had been ‘torpedoed by the Treasury’.

He added: ‘Once again, it has failed to recognise that the prudent, responsible choice is to sufficiently invest in a green transition.’

The strategy received a cautious welcome from environmentalists.

But business groups and senior Tories called for a more honest discussion about the costs involved.

Gavin Barwell, a former No 10 chief of staff under Theresa May, took a swipe at the PM, saying: ‘I’m strongly in favour of more rapid action to decarbonise our economy, but I do wish politicians of all persuasions would stop pretending there is no upfront cost and it is one big job creation scheme.’

Craig Mackinlay, founder of the Net Zero Watch group of Tory MPs, described the plans as a ‘largely uncosted wish list’.

He added: ‘I am most uncomfortable for the lower paid who will bear the cost of much of this greenwash in higher bills and taxes whilst the wealthier will bank their contribution towards their five figure heat pump. 

‘While the big global emitters of CO2 pay lip service to net zero, we’re seemingly on a path to bankruptcy with multi-trillion pound dreams.’

Matthew Fell, policy director at the CBI, said the new strategy ‘fills in some of the blanks’ in the government’s green agenda.

But he said the country needed ‘an honest conversation… about how we pay to go green’.

The independent Climate Change Committee’s chief executive Chris Stark described the strategy as a ‘substantial step forward’ that laid out the Government’s ambitions.

Katie White, from conservation charity WWF, said: ‘We are finally seeing the UK Government set out a positive vision for net zero, sending a clear signal to every sector of the economy on their role, but we are still lacking the full suite of policies and increased funding to close the gap between climate promises and action.’

But environmental group Friends of the Earth criticised the strategy as ‘riddled with holes and omissions’.

Official plans to replace traditional gas boilers with heat pumps came under fire yesterday.

Critics said a £5,000 grant for homeowners to install air or ground heat pumps are little more than a ‘middle-class bung’ for people who were going to switch to the technology anyway.

But they will not help poorer households as they barely cover half the costs of switching to even the cheapest option, while the overall £450million pot will only fund a fraction of the cost of making all UK homes much more energy efficient.

The drive to low-carbon domestic heating forms part of the Government’s aim of the UK producing net zero greenhouse gases by 2050. 

The £5,000 grant, to be available from next April, will fund only half the typical £10,000 cost of an air source heat pump, which looks like an air conditioning unit on the outside of a house. 

But installing a ground source pump in a garden – either laid horizontally below a lawn or bored vertically into soil – can cost up to £20,000.

Both work by extracting heat from the outside environment and produce up to 40 per cent less greenhouse gas. But they may also need larger radiators, underfloor heating and extra insulation to work efficiently in heating a house.

The costs of such a ‘green’ system compares to the £2-3,000 bill for buying and fitting a typical ‘combi’ gas boiler.

These will no longer be available to buy after 2035 and old ones that stop working after this will have to be replaced by a low-carbon alternative. 

The £450million available would only pay for 30,000 heat pumps a year, a fraction of what is needed to convert 20million UK homes to low-carbon heat.

About 15 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gases come from heating our homes. The Government has said it needs to convert 600,000 homes to heat pumps by 2028 if it is to meet its net zero target. 

In a foreword to the Net Zero Strategy, the Prime Minister said: ‘For years, going green was inextricably bound up with a sense that we have to sacrifice the things we love. But this strategy shows how we can build back greener without so much as a hair shirt in sight.’

In further comments in The Sun he wrote: ‘While we’re going to have to make some pretty major changes to the way we heat our homes, the Greenshirts of the Boiler Police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi.’

The strategy has been released as the UK hosts the UN Cop26 climate summit at the end of the month. 

Patrick Hall, of think-tank Bright Blue, said the insufficient costing of the scheme appears to show the Treasury had won in the ‘tug of war’ with No 10 and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department. 

Mike Foster, of trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance, said the limited funding ‘suggests the Chancellor is putting the brakes on the Prime Minister’s flight of green fantasy’.

He added: ‘The £5,000 grant only pays half the cost of a heat pump, so those in fuel poverty will see no warmth from the Government’s generosity. 

‘Instead, it is middle-class bung for people who were probably going to fit a heat pump anyway. 

‘For the same amount of money, £150million a year, half a million homes could have loft insulation fitted, saving each household £135 a year and removing 290,000 tons of carbon emissions each year.

‘Instead, removing 30,000 gas boilers, replacing them with the subsidised heat pumps will remove only 48,000 tons of carbon each year.’ 

Defending the policy, energy minister Greg Hands told the Commons: ‘We are not saying this is a scheme that is going to provide a heat pump for every house.’ 

He added the Government was not ‘replacing everybody’s gas boiler, but actually by the Government sending a signal kick-starting that market, showing a signal that we want the private sector to respond positively.’ 

It comes as it was revealed that buyers of poorly-insulated homes may struggle to get a mortgage under government proposals to make the housing stock greener, it was revealed yesterday.

Mortgage lenders would have to disclose the energy performance of properties in their portfolio – and set themselves voluntary targets to improve the insulation of their houses.

Ministers hope that the move would encourage buyers to make their homes more energy efficient. But those that cannot afford to do this could struggle to remortgage or sell.

The plan states lenders’ properties should aim to reach an average energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of band C by 2030. Ministers could make the target mandatory if not enough progress is made, according to the Government’s heat and buildings strategy.

Only around two in five homes in the UK currently receive a band C energy rating or higher, according to government figures. Band A is the most efficient and G is the least.

Critics have warned that the plan would hit first-time buyers and families with period properties. Sarah Coles, of investment service Hargreaves Lansdown, said some homeowners would find it ‘prohibitively expensive’ to make their house more energy efficient.

She added: ‘They may not be able to afford to borrow more, or the cost of changes to older properties may be disproportionately high, so they would never recoup the cost of the improvements through a sale.’

Miss Coles also said it is ‘likely to get much harder to track down a cheap mortgage for an inefficient property, which will make them more difficult to sell, which in turn is likely to bring down their value’.

She added: ‘Owners may also struggle to remortgage, so could end up paying over the odds each month. If you’re living in an old family home, and you need to trade down to boost your income in retirement, it could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of your life.’

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, a former energy minister, condemned the plans as ‘an insult to first-time buyers who have scraped and saved to get on the housing ladder’. 

He added: ‘The Conservatives must cancel this plan. Ministers are attempting to clean up their own mess by forcing innocent first-time buyers to fork out thousands of pounds extra.’

But trade association UK Finance said banks and other lenders are committed to making sure customers receive help. It added: ‘Greening our housing stock is vital if we are to meet our climate change obligations and banks and finance providers are committed to helping achieve this goal and making sure consumers are not left behind.’

The heat and buildings strategy states that the Government ‘consulted on proposals to require mortgage lenders to disclose information regarding the EPC rating of their lending portfolios’.

The plan added: ‘We also proposed a voluntary target to reach an average of EPC band C across their mortgage portfolio by 2030, with the option of making this target mandatory.’

Downing Street said it was considering the responses to the consultation and ‘would only introduce a policy which was guided by fairness for the public’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the aim of the plan is to ‘catalyse the development of a green finance market and make available affordable finance’.

Boris Johnson’s war on drivers: PM plans to INCREASE number of hated car-free ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’ in UK cities and build THOUSANDS of miles of segregated cycle lanes under net zero drive 

Boris Johnson plans to increase the number of controversial low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNS) under his green drive despite claims that they do not work.

The Prime Minister’s long-awaited net zero strategy set out an ambition for more LTNs along with thousands of miles of new segregated cycle lanes in UK towns and cities.

It includes a ‘vision’ to make cycling and walking amount for half of all journeys made in urban areas by the end of the decade to improve congesting and air quality.

However the scheme is likely to spark fury as LTNs have been accused of making little impact on pollution and simply moving congestion and emissions to other areas. 

Emergency services have also said they impact on their ability to respond to incidents quickly, although studies have also shown they have helped to reduce injuries to pedestrians and car passengers in areas where they have been introduced.

Some 2000 have been introduced during the pandemic, involving installing cycle lanes, closing off roads to through traffic and widening pavements.

The PM’s report, Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, today declared: ‘We will deliver the Prime Minister’s bold vision for cycling and walking, investing £2 billion over five years with the vision that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be cycled or walked by 2030. 

‘We will also deliver thousands of miles of safe, continuous, direct routes for cycling in towns and cities, physically separated from pedestrians and volume motor traffic along with more low traffic neighbourhoods and school streets.’

Government sets out plan for a ‘zero emission vehicle mandate’ from 2024 that requires car makers to sell an increasing share of EVs each year 

Boris Johnson has been warned by his own economic experts that his drive to outlaw petrol and diesel in favour of electric vehicles may disproportionately help the well-off at the expense of the poor. 

Sales of new vehicles with internal combustion engines will be banned in 2030 in a bid to reduce emissions to net zero by the middle of the decade.

And ministers unveiled a raft of additional measures today designed to push Brits into buying electric vehicles (EVs) at an increasing rate even before then. 

 Manufacturers could soon be forced to sell a rising share of electric vehicles each year to speed-up the shift.

The Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy confirmed it will consult next year on the introduction of a ‘zero emission vehicle mandate’ from 2024 – and it could fine car makers who do not move quickly enough.

However a Treasury review released at the same time questioned whether the rush to EVs was good for society.

The analysis of the PM’s net zero plans said: ‘Policies to support the adoption of EVs may disproportionately benefit higher income groups, and the costs of any policies that affect the remaining drivers may fall disproportionately on low-income groups; this could create a trade-off in some areas between incentivising decarbonisation and minimising distributional impacts.’   

In response Downing Street insisted that net zero plans had to be ‘fair’ across society. 

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Any policies we bring in will be designed to be fair across the board. I’m not going to speculate on potential future policies.’

Ministers see the zero emission vehicle mandate as the most effective way of shifting the UK to electric vehicles – while also allowing taxpayer-funded grants to be reduced.

‘Our zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate will guarantee greater number of zero emission vehicles on our roads, unlocking the transformation of our road transport,’ the strategy paper said. 

It was reported last week that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been at loggerheads with Transport and Businesses Secretaries Grant Shapps and Kwasi Kwarteng over planned cuts to the Plug-in Car Grant.

The scheme, which has been available since 2011, was last slashed by £500 in April, down from £3,000 to £2,500. Additional rules were also put in place so that only buyers of electric vehicles up to the price of £35,000 are eligible for it.  

The Treasury is said to be eager to scale down grants to focus funding towards bolstering the country’s charging infrastructure as well as reduce outgoings in the wake of the pandemic.

Yet both Shapps and Kwarteng are concerned it could derail the recent growth in EV demand and send the wrong message ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow later this month.

A ZEV mandate – like the one introduced in California in the 1990s – is being looked at as a best solution, putting the onus on car makers to sell an increasing proportion of electric vehicles each year, for which they will receive credits.

This would – in theory – accelerate the availability of EVs across different price points, with manufacturers forced to introduce battery-powered models that are suitable for all different types of car buyers. 

Failure to meet yearly-increasing sales targets could result in fines for the manufacturers and there would be a separate target introduced for the carbon emissions of their vehicle ranges.   

Homeowners could be forced to spend thousands making properties eco-friendly in order to remortgage or sell under Government’s new green plans 

Home owners could be forced to make their home more energy efficient in order to sell it under the new Government Net Zero stategy unveiled.

Mortgage lenders would be forced to keep figures on how energy efficient the homes they lent money against are and disclose these to the Government. They would also need to set themselves targets to improve how well-insulated the homes on their books were. 

This means properties that didn’t meet these standards could become tricky or even impossible for homeowners to remortgage on or sell.

Some lenders, including Virgin Money and Nationwide, are already offering incentives for those with greener homes to try and push up the number on their books. 

These ‘green’ mortgages have increased five-fold since April, and those with energy efficient homes could soon borrow up to £12,000 more on their mortgage with one lender.

The Government plans were published in the Net Zero Strategy which outlines Boris Johnson’s plans to meet climate targets such as reaching net zero carbon by 2050. They are also part of an ongoing government consultation.

If implemented they could mean that homeowners face having to make costly energy efficiency improvements if they want to sell their properties.

The cost of installing an eco-friendly ground source heat pump for example can be more than £20,000.

Boris vows to make Britain ‘the Qatar of hydrogen’ and says ‘green is good’ as he woos business chiefs including Bill Gates at glitzy summit urging them to invest ‘trillions’ in tackling climate change 

Boris Johnson vowed to make Britain the ‘Qatar of hydrogen’ as he wooed businesses chiefs including Bill Gates at a glitzy summit – urging them to invest ‘trillions’ in tackling climate change. 

The PM gave a speech and chatted to the Microsoft billionaire on stage as he asked industry leaders to commit funding to decarbonising the world economy – insisting ‘green is good, green is right’.

He said the UK had a responsibility to act on cutting emissions as ‘we were the first to knit the deadly tea cosy of CO2’ – pointing to the ‘big bets’ the government is making on electric vehicles and gigafactories for battery production.

Mr Johnson also played down concerns that the looming COP26 summit in Glasgow will be a failure, saying he is hoping for a ‘good turnout’ of world leaders despite expected snubs from China and Russia.  

He said there were $24trillion represented in the room at the Science Museum conference London. 

‘I can deploy billions – with the approval of the Chancellor, obviously – but you in this room, you can deploy trillions,’ he said.

‘I want to say to each and every one of those dollars, you are very welcome to the UK and you have come to the right place at the right time.’

He said hydrogen would be a significant part of the solution to replacing fossil fuels. ‘To drive a digger or a truck or to hurl a massive passenger plane down a runway, you need what Jeremy Clarkson used to call ”grunt” – I think there may be a technical term for it – but ”grunt”.

‘Hydrogen provides that grunt, so we are making big bets on hydrogen, we are making bets on solar and hydro, and, yes – of course – on nuclear as well, for our baseload.’  

At the business summit, Mr Johnson said there were $24trillion represented in the room at the Science Museum conference London. 

‘I can deploy billions – with the approval of the Chancellor, obviously – but you in this room, you can deploy trillions,’ he said.

‘I want to say to each and every one of those dollars, you are very welcome to the UK and you have come to the right place at the right time.’

He said hydrogen would be a significant part of the solution to replacing fossil fuels. ‘To drive a digger or a truck or to hurl a massive passenger plane down a runway, you need what Jeremy Clarkson used to call ”grunt” – I think there may be a technical term for it – but ”grunt”.

‘Hydrogen provides that grunt, so we are making big bets on hydrogen, we are making bets on solar and hydro, and, yes – of course – on nuclear as well, for our baseload.’  

Mr Johnson channelled the spirit of Michael Douglas’s character from the film Wall Street as he told business chiefs: ‘To adapt Gordon Gekko – who may or may not be a hero of anybody in this room – green is good, green is right, green works.’ 

The UK Government has already committed £200million for the development and demonstration of projects for green hydrogen, long-term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels and direct air capture of CO2 as part of a £1 billion portfolio of investments. 

Mr Johnson and Mr Gates announced that the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst will match that £200million funding over 10 years to help develop the cutting-edge technologies.

The PM said: ‘It will help to bring innovative technologies to market globally, while building new skills and creating high-quality jobs across the UK.’

Mr Gates said the partnership would ‘accelerate the deployment of these critical climate solutions, helping to make them more affordable and accessible’.

Downing Street dismissed questions about whether it was appropriate for the PM’s to share a stage with Mr Gates after he was criticised for his acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein. 

‘Our focus is on working with those individuals who are committed to working on this issue,’ the PM’s spokesman said.  

However, despite the enthusiastic words, Mr Johnson seems to have ditched the idea of a total ban on gas boilers from 2035 in the face of anger from Tory MPs and homeowners. Instead there will be a ‘target’ for all new installations to be environmentally-friendly options such as heat pumps. 

Families will be encouraged to install low-carbon systems from April with £5,000 grants, costing taxpayers in England and Wales at least £450million.

But the funding will cover just 90,000 heat pump installations over three years – far short of the PM’s goal of 600,000 a year by 2028. 

Prince Charles has increased the pressure on minister to act on climate change by describing how his grandson Prince George has been learning how global warming is causing ‘the big storms, and floods, the droughts, fires and food shortages’ around the world. 

In an interview with Bloomberg last night, Mr Johnson said: ‘The UK is deciding to make a big bet on green technology so the government is going in, setting the regulatory framework to encourage the private sector to come in, in the way that they are – and I’ve quoted some of the numbers for the investment that we are seeing. 

‘So we are making a big bet on wind power, on hydrogen, on electric vehicles, on gigafactories, on carbon capture and storage, all those things. And that’s driving a lot of the investment.’ 

Speaking to broadcasters this morning, Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan confirmed that the government was stopping short of introducing a future ban on gas boilers.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘At the moment we’re encouraging the market to drive those changes.’

However, she did not rule out forcing the move later. 

‘In the short term, yes, of course this is a voluntary scheme,’ she said.

‘There will be a point at which that changes but, yes, for now that’s the case.’ 

The boiler plans are outlined in the Government’s long-awaited ‘heat and buildings strategy’, to be published today. 

Switching to low carbon heating in the coming years will cut emissions, and reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes in gas, the Government said.

Government sources also confirmed ministers will press ahead later this year with a plan to pile new ‘green’ levies on to gas bills. Levies on electricity will be cut in a bid to persuade consumers to switch to greener energy. 

Friends of the Earth’s Mike Childs said the Government’s plans were ‘quite modest’.  

He added: ‘Housing is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise but the Government is making it all the more difficult by leaving half its tools in the toolbox, with unambitious policies and inadequate funding.’

Mr Johnson is to announce £9.7billion of overseas investment in the UK, creating 30,000 jobs, Downing Street said. 

The deals will support growth in areas such as wind energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture.

The Prime Minister will host business leaders including Microsoft co-founder Mr Gates at the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum in London.

Yesterday also saw Ford reveal it is investing £230million to transform its Halewood factory on Merseyside to help build a new generation of zero-emissions cars. Its first electric vehicle parts hub in Europe will safeguard 500 jobs. 

Prince Charles was introducing a documentary ahead of Cop26. He is shown holding a revolving earth in the footage, telling viewers: ‘Your future depends upon the future of the planet.’

The Sky Kids documentary Cop26: In Your Hands features six young activists who highlight the impact of climate change on their corners of the Earth. The prince tells viewers: ‘I’m old enough to have a grandson.

‘Like you, he is learning how climate change is causing the big storms, and floods, the droughts, fires and food shortages we are seeing around the world.’  

Charlie Mullins from Pimlico Plumbers has warned that putting new energy sources into 30million-plus homes ‘would keep the country’s current crop of heating engineers busy for a hundred years’.

There are also major questions about how some of these new solutions such as ground source heat pumps, can work for the millions of small homes and flats in Britain’s cities because they need a hole between 50ft and 300ft deep – or long trenches measuring around 7,000sqft in the garden or grounds.    

A leaked Treasury briefing ahead of the COP26 summit says the spending needed to achieve Net Zero is ‘uncertain’ and the positive impact of ‘ever more investment’ in greening the economy is likely to reduce. 

The document, which according to the Observer accompanied a presentation to key groups outside government, also cautioned that tax rises could be required to balance the ‘erosion of tax revenue from fossil-fuel related activity’.

As frictions bubble up between the two most powerful figures in government ahead of the Budget on October 27 and crucial summit, Treasury officials have also been complaining about ‘economic illiteracy’ at No10 over lavish spending promises and the danger of inflation running out of control. 

There are claims that Mr Sunak privately lamented the ‘sh**show’ in Downing Street at the height of the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, the Chancellor also faces a wave of counter-briefing, with swipes that he is turning into Bond villain ‘Dr No’ and has been ‘rattled’ by the possibility that he could be replaced. 

The infighting emerged as the PM tries to position the UK at the forefront of the battle against climate change, with the UN summit taking place in Glasgow in a fortnight.

The feuding hit a new level last week as No11 brutally slapped down Kwasi Kwarteng over his public suggestion of a bailout for energy-intensive firms struggling with soaring gas prices – only to be effectively overruled by Mr Johnson.

An admirer of Mr Sunak told the Sunday Times that the relations between the Chancellor and the PM were now starting to resemble those between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

However, they pointed out that in this case there was no doubt about who was in charge of government policy. 

‘I’ve been watching the Blair-Brown documentary and I’m worried we are falling into the same thing with Boris and Rishi only this time it is the prime minister with the ”great clunking fist”,’ they said. 

Tory aides pointed out that new Foreign Secretary Liz Truss openly covets the Treasury job and Mr Sunak is ‘rattled’. 

‘Rishi has become Dr No, while Liz is Mrs Yes, Yes, Yes,’ a former minister said.

Rumours have been circulating that Mr Johnson appointed 6ft 5in Simon Clarke as Treasury Chief Secretary partly as a joke at the expense of the rather more diminutive Mr Sunak.

One senior Tory told the Sunday Times that a crunch moment is approaching on the PM’s free-spending habits. 

‘The moment is coming, a bit like Nigel Lawson and Mrs T, where he will have to make a decision as the chancellor whether he is going to continue going along with it,’ they said. 

A Treasury spokesperson said: ‘The Government is committed to tackling climate change and the Prime Minister has set out an ambitious Ten Point Plan to help us achieve that. 

‘The Treasury is playing a crucial role in this effort, by allocating £12billion to fund the Ten Point Plan, setting up the UK Infrastructure Bank to invest in net zero, and committing to raise £15billion through our Green Gilt for projects like zero-emissions buses, offshore wind and schemes to decarbonise homes.’ 

So what will YOU need to do to your house to achieve Boris’s green dream – and what will it cost? Householders face having to meet strict insulation standards, replace their gas boiler and will be encouraged to buy an electric car

Millions of British households are set to be lumbered with the growing costs of Boris Johnson’s determination to make Britain carbon-neutral in the next 30 years.

Economists are warning that taxes and consumer prices are likely to rise to cover the Government’s estimated £1trillion bill after the Prime Minister published the most detailed proposals yet for how the country will achieve Net Zero in the fight against climate change. 

As well as clean flights, a shift to electric cars by 2035, and gas boilers out by 2030, there will be a focus on encouraging homeowners to be more environmentally-conscious. That could include incentivising mortgage lenders to prioritise properties with better energy ratings.

The Government says that switching from fossil fuels to clean energy, including wind, new nuclear and emerging hydrogen technology, can ease the reliance on imports and protect families from price spikes. It says 440,000 ‘well-paid’ jobs can be created over the next decade.

Downing Street argues that the economic cost of inaction on climate change far outweighs the financial impacts of making the UK economy carbon neutral over the next three decades. 

However, there are growing concerns from the Tory backbenches at the consequences of the push – which economists say is likely to cost £1trillion. The Treasury did not attempt to calculate the cost of Net Zero in its stark 135-page audit published on Tuesday. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s officials also warned that making Britain green will have ‘material fiscal consequences’. 

The Treasury said it expects inflation and higher taxes, estimated that carbon reduction targets will cost £60billion in capital costs alone, and warned that jobs in some industries could be lost abroad if other countries did not move at the same pace as the UK.

So what will YOU need to do to your house to achieve Net Zero? And what will it cost?  

GETTING YOUR HOME RETROFITTED WITH INSULATION

The Government wants to improve insulation in social housing and for those in fuel poverty, and wants as many homes as possible to achieve EPC band C – the third most efficient – by 2035. 

New homes already have to be built so they use low-carbon heating and are energy efficient, but the Government plans to introduce even higher standards from June 2022 which it says will result in a 31 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared with current new homes.  

The government is also planning to consult on whether it is ‘appropriate’ to prevent new build homes from being connected to the gas grid in England from 2025. 

To reach the Government’s target of the majority of homes rated as EPC C by 2035, and 2030 in the private sector, changes will be needed including double or triple glazing, solid or cavity wall insulation and underfloor heating.

According to the Climate Change Committee, the quango formed to advise on tackling and preparing for climate change, semi-detached households can cost £8,590 for external wall insulation, up to £2,480 for cavity wall insulation and £740 for loft insulation.

In the Treasury’s Net Zero review published on Tuesday, they estimated that in non-standard dwellings – anything with walls built from materials other than brick or stone and roofs made of slate or tile – retrofitting costs may be significantly higher. 

For example, the current cost estimate for cavity wall insulation of a medium-sized semi-detached houses is £590, but for non-standard dwellings, it can cost £8,430 for partially filled cavity walls and £7,980 for metal or timber framed cavity walls.

The review warns that listed or historic dwellings and buildings in conservation areas are also more challenging to retrofit and that the costs of retrofitting ‘are likely to be higher than average in order to achieve the same level of energy efficiency’. 

Households living in properties 201 sq m or larger could be almost three times as exposed to the Net Zero transition than households living in properties under 50 sq m, Treasury officials also warned.

They also said the average detached home is likely to require double the investment of an average high-rise flat, while households in London could pay more than households in the North East due to variation in wall type and existing wall insulation provision. 

Only 23 per cent of London dwellings have insulated walls, compared to 73 per cent in the North East.  

GETTING HEAT PUMPS OR A HYDROGEN BOILER

Under the Prime Minister’s Net Zero drive, gas boilers in new homes will be banned from 2025. By 2050, all households should be using a low-carbon alternative – meaning that heat pumps, whether air or ground-sourced, are likely to be the common alternative. 

Ground source heat pumps use pipes buried in the garden to extract heat from the ground, which can then heat radiators, warm air heating systems and hot water.

They circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger. 

Right now, the cost of installing them can range from £14,000 to £19,000 depending on the length of the loop, and running costs will depend on the size of the home and its insulation. However, some households can receive quarterly payments over seven years under the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive, which will effectively cover much of the cost.

To get your heat pump working optimally, you may need to install bigger radiators, underfloor heating and other insulation, which could prove disruptive. 

Users may be able to receive payments for the heat they generate through the Government’s renewable heat incentive. The systems normally come with a two or three year warranty – and work for at least 20 years, with a professional check every three to five years. 

Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water. They can still extract heat when it is as cold as 5F, with the fluid passing through a compressor which warms it up and transfers it into a heating circuit.

They extract renewable heat from the environment, meaning the heat output is greater than the electricity input – and they are therefore seen as energy efficient.

There are two types, which are air-to-water and air-to-air, and installing a system costs £9,000 to £11,000, depending on the size of your home and its insulation.

A typical three-bedroom home is said to be able to save £2,755 in ten years by using this instead of a gas boiler.

A hydrogen boiler is potentially a less intrusive and cheaper option than a heat pump. However, hydrogen is not yet ready for use in homes, and it’s unclear when it will be, on what scale and at what price.

An analysis by MailOnline found that estimates range from £1,500 to £5,000. 

The main benefit of hydrogen is that produces no carbon dioxide at the point of use, and can be manufactured from either water using electricity as a renewable energy source, or from natural gas accompanied by carbon capture and storage. 

The boiler is constructed and works in mostly the same way as an existing condensing boiler, with Worcester Bosch – which is producing a prototype – saying converting a hydrogen-ready boiler from natural gas to hydrogen will take a trained engineer around an hour.

GETTING ELECTRIC CAR CHARGER INSTALLED 

Under the Government’s Net Zero proposals, officials want to ban petrol and diesel cars – vehicles with internal-combustion engines – and force them to buy electric vehicles by 2035.

Installing a charger at home could cost people up to £1,000, with Government grants covering up to £350. This is expected to fall to around £680 by 2040.  

Drivers can get up to £2,500 towards the cost of a new electric car, with ministers confirming they will press ahead with plans to force mortgage lenders to include the energy performance of homes in their calculations.

However, Treasury analysis published on Tuesday pointed out that government subsidies such as those for electric cars tend to favour the wealthy, while piling on costs for poorer families. 

‘Policies to support the adoption of EVs may disproportionately benefit higher income groups, and the costs of any policies that affect the remaining drivers may fall disproportionately on low-income groups,’ the Treasury’s Net Zero review warns. ‘This could create a trade-off in some areas between incentivising decarbonisation and minimising distributional impacts.’ 

Officials predict that higher income households are more likely to buy new vehicles, and so take up EVs sooner, while low-income households are likely to be the slowest to adopt EVs as they are the least likely to purchase new cars. 

Though those in higher income groups are more likely to be early adopters, and consequently take on higher costs, while low-income households are expected to continue running ICE vehicles for longer. However, the Net Zero review warns that as ICE ownership declines, the availability and price of petrol and diesel refuelling is likely to change. 

‘These changes – assuming all else being equal – are likely to be disproportionately felt by lower income households as well as those who choose to delay switching to EVs voluntarily,’ the review states. 

The Treasury also admits that the total cost of EV ownership is unknowable, and will depend on future government policy and factors such as the price of the vehicle, access to finance, usage, maintenance costs, and the cost of charging. 

The document adds that with many households, and disproportionately lower income households, purchasing cars on the second-hand car market, ‘understanding how prices on the second-hand EV market will evolve is even more challenging, given that it is a new market’. 

THIRTY-YEAR IMPACT ON HOUSEHOLDS

In a stark Net Zero review, the Treasury said it cannot forecast the full cost to households over the next 30 years but warned that making Britain green will have ‘material fiscal consequences’.

‘It is not possible to forecast how individual households will be affected over the course of an economic transition that is expected to take thirty years to complete,’ the document warns, adding there is ‘significant uncertainty over the precise mix of technologies and their costs’.  

Officials also warn that the ‘costs and benefits of the transition will pass through to households through the labour market, prices and asset values’, but that these costs ‘will not fall evenly across households’.

Real wages and labour market opportunities in firms that emit carbon in their production processes will decline in the next 30 years ‘to the extent that decarbonisation reduces worker productivity’, Mr Sunak’s department warns. The sounding alarm comes while Downing Street makes assurances that going green will create more job opportunities.

The Treasury also expects energy, fuel and food prices to rise in the form of ‘regulation, taxation or abatement activity’ as a result of decarbonisation. 

And in the shift away from fossil fuel, officials are warning households and businesses of new taxes in the coming years to fill the vacuum left by the drying up of receipts from fuel duty and vehicle excise duty, which raised £37billion last year.

The transition to electric vehicles would ultimately create a temporary tax vacuum equivalent to 1.5 per cent of GDP by the 2040s which could only be partially filled by carbon taxes, meaning that new revenue-raising measures would be needed.

The Treasury adds that the alternative – using borrowing to pay for the costs – would be unfair to future generations and would not be fiscally sustainable following the impact of Covid restrictions on the economy. 

‘The transition to Net Zero will mean changes in the way businesses run and people live in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2050, which will be different for everyone based on their individual circumstances,’ the Net Zero review goes on. 

‘Some of these changes are known, but there remain areas of significant uncertainty over a 30-year transition, with major system-wide decisions to be taken over the next decade on the UK’s future energy mix and the role of negative emission technologies in achieving Net Zero.’ 

A Treasury spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘Tackling climate change is essential for our long-term prosperity and today the government announced an ambitious plan setting out our vision for decarbonising across the economy in 2050 while securing 440,000 well-paid jobs and unlocking billions in private investment. The cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action.

‘As part of that plan, the Net Zero Review looks at the potential costs and benefits for businesses and consumers of the transition to a net zero economy, to ensure that our approach can make the most of the opportunities the transition brings, and support households and businesses where needed.’

Heat pumps are one of the biggest cons I have seen and Boris’s £5,000 grants to householders to install heat them is doomed to fail, writes construction expert ROGER BISBY 

Having started my working life as an apprentice plumber aged 16, run my own building company for almost 30 years and then appeared as an expert on TV shows from the BBC‘s Rogue Traders to House Of Horrors on ITV, I thought I’d seen it all when it came to the building trade.

But even I have been unprepared by the scale of opposition to the heat pumps that the Government is so keen to make us all fit in our homes, having ripped out our gas boilers first.

On the building advice website that I now run, I have been deluged by unhappy customers who were persuaded to install heat pumps (which are either ground source or air source, depending on design) but who bitterly regretted their decision.

One told me that he bought a new-build house which had an air source heat pump installed. 

The customer’s bills were similar to those from the gas boilers they had before: But now they pay an extra £450 a year for service and maintenance if something goes wrong – as it frequently does.

Another contact of mine in the trade told me of a customer north of the border who had a ground source heat pump installed thanks to a Scottish government grant. He said it had never worked.

Contractors had dug up his garden three times to refit various components. Eventually he gave up altogether, dismantled it, installed solar panels – and now relies on his old oil boiler during the winter.

And for these reasons, along with all my extensive experience in the trade, I know that the Government’s new scheme to offer £5,000 grants to householders to install heat pumps is doomed to fail.

Yes, it’s vital that we reduce the environmental impact of buildings. But in British homes, heat pumps are not the answer. 

Let me be clear: I’d be the first person to take out my old gas boiler and install a heat pump if I knew it would be an improvement. 

But it wouldn’t and – unless you live in an unusually well-insulated and modern home, perhaps in a rural area – nor will it be the right decision for you.

Air source heat pumps, which sit on patios or external walls, look like metal boxes with large fans inside – and like all fans, they make a bit of a noise when they’re switched on.  

They have been around for years on the continent – especially in Scandinavia, where houses are better insulated than they are in Britain. 

If they worked well, they would not need a government grant to bribe householders to fit them.

But they do. Why? 

Because far from enjoying cheaper, more efficient heat in their homes, UK families who fit them often find their electricity bills double or treble; the noisy heat pumps drive them to distraction; their house is colder; their shower lukewarm and in all too many cases they wish they could get their old gas boiler back.

Few people seem to realise that it is pointless to install a heat pump unless your house is extremely well-insulated and draught-proofed to keep it airtight. 

Otherwise, the heat seeps out – and cannot be restored quickly enough by the heat pump.

Gas boilers, in contrast, heat houses very fast – which means that they can replace heat quicker than it seeps out of a house.

Modern new-builds in the UK are generally well -insulated, but they are still not designed for heat pumps. 

Most houses currently using gas boilers need to fit larger radiators and pipes, meaning major disruption and a hefty bill.

For older houses, it would typically be better to replace radiators with underfloor heating, which is more efficient and gives a better spread of heat.

But that means taking up floors to install it, meaning more expense, disruption and waste. 

As for the £5,000 Government grant, it will barely make a dent in the costs for most people: A new air source heat pump system can cost £10,000 on average including installation. 

And you can bet that companies approved to do this grant-aided work will put their prices up – by a remarkably consistent £5,000 or so.

The Government recently ran a pilot scheme outside Newcastle, offering to take out gas boilers and replace them with air source heat pumps for free.

But they couldn’t give the pumps away: People simply didn’t want the disruption.

Even Caroline Lucas, the high-profile Green Party MP, has compared installing heat pumps without properly insulating houses first to trying to make tea in a broken teapot. She’s right.

The great irony is that heat pumps work best when you need them least.

Air source heat pumps operate by taking air from outside and, thanks to a clever design, using this air to warm a compressed gas which is then used to heat your home and its hot water system.

If the outside temperature is above 5C, the heat pump will deliver heat into your home. You will be happy and may even save money. 

As the temperature drops to below freezing, however, the heat pump delivers less heat into your home – just when you need it. If your home is heated by a gas boiler, you can realistically expect your hot taps to deliver water at about 60C.

With a heat pump, especially in very cold weather, that might drop to some 40C.

Water at that temperature will only give you a tepid bath – while also increasing the risk of Legionnaires’ Disease, a bacterial lung infection that can kill.

When it’s freezing outside and your heat pump is struggling, your radiators will also feel tepid to the touch.

Unless you want to shiver, you are likely to need another source of heat such as a wood-burning stove – not very environmentally friendly. 

So rather than persuading householders to rip up their floorboards, swap out all their radiators with larger ones and commit themselves to a potentially ruinous – and environmentally useless – new heating system, it would be far better to ensure that people’s houses are properly insulated first.

And as it stands, this scheme is in danger of going the way of similar government-run incentives: Withering and dying because it is ill-conceived, too complicated to implement – and simply burns its way through more of your money. 

Make your home greener… or you won’t get a mortgage: Buyers of poorly-insulated homes could struggle for finance as lenders are told to set energy efficiency targets under government’s new eco plans

Buyers of poorly-insulated homes may struggle to get a mortgage under government proposals to make the housing stock greener, it was revealed yesterday.

Mortgage lenders would have to disclose the energy performance of properties in their portfolio – and set themselves voluntary targets to improve the insulation of their houses.

Ministers hope that the move would encourage buyers to make their homes more energy efficient. But those that cannot afford to do this could struggle to remortgage or sell.

The plan states lenders’ properties should aim to reach an average energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of band C by 2030. Ministers could make the target mandatory if not enough progress is made, according to the Government’s heat and buildings strategy.

Only around two in five homes in the UK currently receive a band C energy rating or higher, according to government figures. Band A is the most efficient and G is the least.

Critics have warned that the plan would hit first-time buyers and families with period properties. Sarah Coles, of investment service Hargreaves Lansdown, said some homeowners would find it ‘prohibitively expensive’ to make their house more energy efficient.

She added: ‘They may not be able to afford to borrow more, or the cost of changes to older properties may be disproportionately high, so they would never recoup the cost of the improvements through a sale.’

Miss Coles also said it is ‘likely to get much harder to track down a cheap mortgage for an inefficient property, which will make them more difficult to sell, which in turn is likely to bring down their value’.

She added: ‘Owners may also struggle to remortgage, so could end up paying over the odds each month. If you’re living in an old family home, and you need to trade down to boost your income in retirement, it could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of your life.’

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, a former energy minister, condemned the plans as ‘an insult to first-time buyers who have scraped and saved to get on the housing ladder’. He added: ‘The Conservatives must cancel this plan. Ministers are attempting to clean up their own mess by forcing innocent first-time buyers to fork out thousands of pounds extra.’

But trade association UK Finance said banks and other lenders are committed to making sure customers receive help. It added: ‘Greening our housing stock is vital if we are to meet our climate change obligations and banks and finance providers are committed to helping achieve this goal and making sure consumers are not left behind.’

The heat and buildings strategy states that the Government ‘consulted on proposals to require mortgage lenders to disclose information regarding the EPC rating of their lending portfolios’.

The plan added: ‘We also proposed a voluntary target to reach an average of EPC band C across their mortgage portfolio by 2030, with the option of making this target mandatory.’

Downing Street said it was considering the responses to the consultation and ‘would only introduce a policy which was guided by fairness for the public’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the aim of the plan is to ‘catalyse the development of a green finance market and make available affordable finance’.

ALEX BRUMMER: No wonder Rishi Sunak’s on red alert for Boris Johnson’s new green nirvana  

Amid mounting apprehension about the terrifying cost of hitting the Government’s net zero carbon target and replacing our gas boilers with eco-friendly heat pumps, Boris Johnson is doing his utmost to reassure us.

In typically florid language, the Prime Minister insists that ‘the Boiler Police are not going to kick your door in with their sandal-clad feet and seize – at carrot point – your trusty old combi’.

Yet he is undoubtedly on a mission ahead of next week’s Cop26 summit – and Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s attempt to inject an air of economic reality into the hugely ambitious climate change programme is hitting an immovable force. Sound financial sense is being swept aside.

In his rush to decarbonise, Johnson appears to be unmoved by the essential needs of manufacturing and households for secure energy supplies. Wilfully ignored is the fact that much of the technology and infrastructure required for a carbon-free Britain isn’t up to the job, is untested or has yet to be developed.

What is more, at a time when global markets for energy sources such as gas and oil are in turmoil, a Treasury study has revealed, incredibly, that the investment required to decarbonise Britain has never fully been costed.

Little wonder Rishi Sunak is so fearful. The Treasury warns bluntly that Britain’s race to net zero ahead of rival countries could make us increasingly uncompetitive.

And however Bunterish Boris Johnson might be, costs will increase because of the Government’s eco-policies – a fact missing from the script yesterday as he sought to whip up excitement among potential investors at a global summit in London.

The Prime Minister admitted this week that ‘the UK is deciding to make a big bet on green technology’. But the gamble is in danger of going horribly wrong.

In all manner of areas, red warning lights are flashing. Take the plan to ban all new gas boilers by 2035. Householders are offered grants of £5,000 each over the next three years to rip out gas boilers and install heat pumps.

Yet not only is this sum a fraction of the cost which is nearer £20,000, the total grant money covers just 90,000 of Britain’s 25million households – and heat pumps don’t work in many homes anyway.

Likewise, by banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, the UK will need more than ten times the 25,000 existing charging points according to the Competition and Markets Authority.

It is an extraordinary, difficult and ambitious target to meet. And, in the meantime, battery range is a genuine problem for vast numbers of drivers while the Treasury faces a £40billion black hole from the loss of vehicle tax once we are finally all electric.

Of course the world needs to change to counter global warming, and Rishi Sunak is fully aware of the fact. Nor is it true that he lacks the ability to back bold, visionary ideas – he is behind the freeport development on Teesside, for instance, where international businesses will be encouraged to invest through tax breaks.

But the Chancellor recognises only too well that reaching the green nirvana imagined by Johnson at such breakneck speed could have terrible consequences. For the journey risks being interrupted by power blackouts, the elderly freezing in their homes and budgetary mayhem.

This rush towards decarbonising Britain could not come at a worse moment given current global circumstances. Since May, the price of traditional energy resources has soared by 95 per cent.

Britain has come so close to running out of power that the National Grid – responsible for making sure the nation has adequate energy – invited the biggest electricity supplier EDF to switch back on its coal generator at West Burton in Nottinghamshire where it is almost certainly burning German or Russian-imported coal.

Elsewhere in the world the US, which has abundant oil and gas resources and reserves, has seen petrol prices surge to $3 (£2.18) an American gallon – the highest level for several years.

Blackouts have hit the two biggest emerging market nations, India and China, while much of continental Europe has been reminded sharply how dependent it is on remaining friends with Vladimir Putin in order to keep Russian exports of natural gas to the continent flowing.

Normally, as the northern hemisphere heads into winter, oil, gas and coal stocks are at record levels. But this year, they have fallen way below where they should be, while coal stocks in India and China – huge consumers of the black stuff – are also right down.

Compared to so many other countries, Britain is doubly disadvantaged by its headlong rush to decarbonise. The UK floats on a sea of undeveloped fossil fuel resources, from clean coal in Cumbria to the Jackdaw oil and gas field more than 150 miles east of Aberdeen, and huge shale gas reserves around Blackpool.

But, as we relentlessly pursue the target of a carbon-free Britain by 2050, these resources are firmly locked up even though the country has virtually no natural gas storage capacity.

In seeking to claim the ethical high ground, the UK is placing its whole economy at risk while our competitors adopt a much more realistic approach.

To take one example, in this country less than 2 per cent of our energy was sourced from coal last year. Compare that with Germany where the figure was nearer 25 per cent.

It’s true that President Joe Biden is adopting bolder carbon emission standards. But, from the coalfields of West Virginia to fracking operations in West Texas, fossil fuels are still the main driving force of American power production.

As inspiring as it may be that, when the wind blows, more than 50 per cent of Britain’s energy is now provided by offshore windfarms, we shouldn’t kid ourselves that this places us at the forefront of this technology.

Many of the pylons are fabricated in China and some of the more sophisticated technologies provided by Denmark. We are still waiting for the UK’s manufacturing revolution for clean energy to emerge. And we are already well behind on car-battery factories – Germany has six or so under construction against one gigaplant in the UK.

There was great excitement when British industrial giant Ineos, founded and run by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, announced he was getting full-square behind the hydrogen-fuel revolution, believing it to be the power source of the future for heavy trucks and perhaps locomotives.

The only problem is that he has chosen to build the first multi-billion hydrogen plants in Germany, Norway and Belgium rather than the UK.

While garage forecourts in London and other big cities are seeking to address the switch to electrified vehicles by removing traditional fuel pumps and replacing them with charging stations, this is leading to its own short-term problem.

With each petrol pump removed, petrol and diesel storage capacity is also diminished – and we saw recently what happens when we don’t have enough fuel available at petrol stations.

recently, my own household experienced an example of how ill-thought-out green policies cause economic harm. The repair firm which has kept our German-built washer and dryer running for 14 years arrived for a regular service call.

The engineer advised us to buy new machines, saying his firm would no longer be able to operate in London because its diesel vehicles and the new £12.50 low-emissions charging zone made it financially unworkable.

The mission to decarbonise Britain and place climate change at the heart of the nation’s agenda is certainly a noble cause. But Boris Johnson has to balance his thinking with realpolitik.

Other advanced nations want to decarbonise too but recognise that, during the transformation, it is critical to ensure that there is no interruption to supplies which would harm economic security.

Sunak and the Treasury are absolutely right to draw attention to the potential costs of pursuing the Prime Minister’s green agenda. The transition to mass market eco-technologies is fantastically complicated and many of the proposed solutions are far from ready.

In rushing the fences, Britain is in danger of recklessly compromising this country’s growth and financial stability.