The Office of Budget Responsibility Discloses Net Zero’s Paralyzing Costs – Is It Up To Speed With That?
By Paul Homewood
It’s great when the things you find when you’re not looking for them!
I found this gem tucked away in one of OBR’s spreadsheets for the October 2021 Economic & Financial Outlook:
Over the entire period 2020 to 2050, total public spending on Net Zero is as high as £573.1 billion. The Low/High Share scenarios simply reflect the ratio of costs the government would pay to the general public. It does not change the total amount we will pay, whether through taxes or personal spending.
Focusing only on the next few years, High Share will reach a terrifying £138.8 billion by 2030, on top of everything we’ve paid out so far.
And this public spending is just the tip of the iceberg, as the next OBR page shows.
By 2050, the impact of Net Zero public spending is projected to increase public sector debt by 11.8% of GDP. But on top of that, there will be 22.4% more debt arising from indirect effects and interest.
In other words, the £573 billion figure above is probably only a third of the true cost to the public sector. Meanwhile, as noted, the private sector will also have to pay more to achieve Net Zero.
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