Not Zero: How an Irrational Target Will Impoverish You, Help China (and Won't Even Save the Planet)

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This hard-hitting polemic provides a timely critique of a potentially devastating political consensus which could hobble Britain's economy, cost billions and not even be effective." In an article for The Spectator, Clark disputed whether the British energy system lasting for two months without coal would end the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, writing: “the coal hard reality is that we are still a long, long way away from ending our dependence on fossil fuels. The contribution from wind and solar, in particular, is hugely inflated in the popular imagination.” 57 Ross Clark. “ Our coal-free months aren’t as impressive as they seem,” Spectator, June 10, 2020. Archived September 28, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/IwYHy

In a Spectator column, Clark claimed that Britain’s growing reliance on renewable energy will make power cuts more likely, criticising wind power in particular. He concluded by writing: 66 Ross Clark. “ How renewable energy makes power cuts more likely,” Spectator, August 10, 2019. Archived April 3, 2020. Archived .pdf on file atDeSmog. In 1989, Clark won The Spectator Young Writers Award, part of the prize for which – a lunch — he later claimed not to have received. [5] He established himself as a freelance journalist, with his work appearing in The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday and The Times, where he frequently writes the Thunderer column. His work is strongly associated with libertarianism and free market economics, writing the "Banned Wagon" [6] and "Globophobia" columns in The Spectator. [7] In 2013, he was co-winner of the Bastiat Prize run by the Reason Foundation. [8] He was also shortlisted for the prize in 2004. Given the failure of the world to come to an end, it is tempting to say, just as we do when religious cults and other fantasists make doom-laden predictions which fail to come to pass: well, the whole thing must be a hoax.” KeyQuotesO’Brien, Neil; Clark, Ross (2010), The Renewal of Government, A manifesto for whoever wins the election (PDF), Policy Exchange Clark also wrote that COP26 would contribute to China becoming the world’s main economic superpower and that it would continue to be the investor of choice for “developing countries in Africa.” In a column for the Spectator, Clark argued that Extinction Rebellion is “not a mass movement for better environmental policies – it is a wannabe Marxist revolution in disguise.” 75 Ross Clark. “ Extinction Rebellion is a wannabe Marxist revolution in disguise,” Spectator, November 21, 2018. Archived April 3, 2020. Archived .pdf on file atDeSmog. In response to David Attenborough’s BBC documentary Climate Change: The Facts, Clark wrote an articlearguing that the broadcaster “cannot be allowed to get away with the propaganda element of his latest piece”. He wrote: 73 Ross Clark. “ What David Attenborough’s climate change show didn’t tell you,” Spectator, April 20, 2019. Archived April 3, 2020. Archived .pdf on file atDeSmog. Extinction Rebellion is no group of visionaries – just a left-wing mob determined to disrupt the lives of the rest of us. They need to be treated as such.”

Clark, Ross (21 March 2013). "If property prices fall, this scheme will be a disaster (Osborne pulls out all the stops to reflate the housing bubble)". The Times. Ross Clark argues that it is a terrible mistake, an impractical hostage to fortune which will have massive downsides. Achieving the target is predicated on the rapid development of technologies that are either non-existent, highly speculative or untested. Clark shows that efforts to achieve the target will inevitably result in a huge hit to living standards, which will clobber the poorest hardest, and gift a massive geopolitical advantage to hostile superpowers such as China and Russia. The unrealistic and rigid timetable it imposes could also result in our committing to technologies which turn out to be ineffective, all while distracting ourselves from the far more important objective of adaptation. It has been a received wisdom among many in government, opposition and in the great green blob that switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy would make us better off. How laughable that claim seems now.”

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In an article titled “Britain should embrace new coal mining” written after Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove greenlit Britain’s first deep coal mine in 30 years, Clark wrote: 33 Ross Clark. “ Britain should embrace new coal mining,” Spectator, December 8, 2022. Archived December 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.is/o57dR In a Spectator article titled “The true cost of renewable energy”, Clark wrote that “the price of green energy is a form of terrible segregation, where the rich will have access to light and heat, and those who need it most, the poor, will shiver in the dark”. 34 Ross Clark. “ The true cost of renewable energy”, The Spectator, November 12, 2022. Archived November 10, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KA4K9 In a Spectator column, Clark agreed with Boris Johnson’s proposals to build a new Thames Estuary airport rather than a third runway at Heathrow. 70 Ross Clark. “ Boris should stop Heathrow’s expansion and build the Thames Estuary airport,” Spectator, June 18, 2019. Archived April 3, 2020. Archived .pdf on file atDeSmog. In a Spectator columntitled “Climate change isn’t responsible for Australia’s hailstorms”, Clark wrote: 25 Ross Clark. “ Climate change isn’t responsible for Australia’s hailstorms,” Spectator, January 21, 2020. Archived April 3, 2020. Archived .pdf on file atDeSmog.