For Scott Morrison,the timing is far from helpful. As his governmentembarks on a fraught internal debate over whether to take a net-zero emissions policy to the COP26 climate summit in November,some MPs are seeking to frame the energy and transport crisis in Britain as a cautionary tale on why taking tougher action on climate change is a bad idea.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan already had a crack at it on Monday by attempting to link a picture of a depleted supermarket shelf to the net-zero agenda. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says Britain has “completely botched” its transition away from coal. And a group of Conservative MPs in Britain also hopes a potential winter of discontent will force Johnson to scale backhis green agenda.
But the truth is the UK’s woes have not been caused by decarbonisation. If anything,the turmoil might actually help make the case for a more rapid transition away from fossil fuels.
The crisis squeezing Britain consists of three main problems,and two of them have absolutely nothing to do with climate policy. The supermarket shortages and the long lines at petrol stations are instead down to a simple lack of truck drivers. Without them,goods can’t get to the stores and fuel can’t be delivered to the bowser. Panic buying has only made things worse.
The Road Haulage Association believes there’s a shortage of about 100,000 drivers in the UK. Thousands of foreign drivers have gone home because of Brexit and more because of coronavirus. The pandemic has also caused a huge backlog for driver testing,and the shortages have been exacerbated by a growing number of truckies retiring.
None of those facts stopped Canavan,a former cabinet minister and economist,from tweeting a picture of empty supermarket shelves with the words ‘Net Zero Emissions...’. Even Canavan’s own colleague,Liberal MP Jason Falinski,can’t let such deception pass without challenge.