Liz Truss's environmental "reverse"

Liz Truss' tirades against the "anti-growth coalition" have set off alarm bells among environmentalists.

The

not only lashed out at groups like Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, but also pointed an accusing finger at Greenpeace activists who sabotaged her latest speech and discredited them as enemies of her "growth, growth, growth" economic agenda.

"Who voted for this?" could be read on the banner displayed by the two Greenpeace activists, Ami McCarthy and Rebecca Newsom, expelled by order of the

and ready to explain in the rain the reason for their protest: "The 80 "% of Brits believe nature is under threat. People voted for strong climate action and more protections. And what do we get in return?

and the potential bonfire of environmental laws."

Although all attention has now focused on the controversial economic measures contained in the so-called "budget of the rich", the truth is that Liz Truss has simultaneously promoted a "reverse gear" in almost all the environmental policies sponsored by her predecessor, Boris Johnson.

The former Secretary of the Environment under David Cameron has undergone a turn towards radical neoliberalism, has filled her cabinet with climate skeptics and is planning a massive deregulation comparable to that of Donald Trump upon his arrival in the White House.

Even the father of the former "premier", Stanley Johnson, has expressed this week in statements to

his concern about the "deregulation" with steroids that the Truss Government plans:

, for a mad rush for economic growth. And zero emissions by 2050 must be maintained at all costs, for the future of the climate."

The fracking

fever

It was the first advance that was leaked to the press, in full mourning for the death of Elizabeth II.

Liz Truss decided to revive

, two years after the moratorium imposed by the Johnson Government after the earthquakes in Lancashire, where the company Cuadrilla Resources came to have the only commercial exploitation in the United Kingdom for the extraction of shale gas (for the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing).

The architect of the resurrection has been the ultra-conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg, secretary of Companies and Energy, famous for his anathemas against "climate alarmism" and for his links to the fossil fuel industry through his investment company Somerset Capital .

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham,

in exchange for the

he would receive, in an attempt to convince the English countryside that they are still on the warpath against

.

David Cameron announced in his day that 60% of the national territory would be open for extractions.

The Truss Government has dusted off plans for at least 160 projects, most in the north of England.

The

intends to "diversify supply," but experts warn that the complex geology of the British Isles is far from the manna of Texas.

Even the current Treasury Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has come to recognize that it would take at least a decade to make an impact on the energy pie, "and that would be paying a heavy price in our communities and our precious countryside."

Zero Emissions

One of Liz Truss's first decisions has been

promoted by the Johnson Government and supported by more than 130 countries in the run-up to Cop26 in Glasgow.

Truss has put an expert or

MP Chris Skidmore, in charge of the study that should be ready by the end of the year.

The presence in his government of ultra-conservatives such as Steve Baker, a member of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) and a supporter of the abolition of the target for 2050, has raised fears that Truss could be plotting the renunciation of "zero emissions" in for the sake of economic growth.

The umbrella of the NZSG has in fact served to bring together the staunchest supporters of Brexit, this time with the goal of achieving the "exit" of the British Government from the "club" of climate change.

MP Chris Skidmore has had to deal with speculation about giving up

"We are reviewing and catalysing the opportunities, to ensure that we put in place the right policies to accelerate the energy transition. Our intention is to give the objective an economic mission, and not just an environmental one".

investment zones

The Government of Liz Truss plans the creation of up to 40 "investment zones" in which it would carry out a planning deregulation to allow construction and commercial development.

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England would be the most "benefited" areas.

As revealed by

, urban development could endanger national parks, natural landscapes and areas of scientific interest.

Even the new Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Areas, Ranil Jayawardena, has joined the development fever and has bluntly warned: "Instead of being a regulatory department, we are going to be a department of economic growth".

habitat protection

"The new government has launched an unprecedented attack on nature," warns the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) on its website, the oldest environmental organization in the British Isles with a million members (many of them "tories").

The RSPB has warned against plans, announced on September 22, to lift "habitat regulations that protect wildlife and ensure clean water, clean rivers and clean air".

Farmer subsidies

It was announced as one of the great "conquests" of Brexit.

The British Government would pay subsidies to farmers to "renaturalize" the countryside and in "landscape recovery" projects, marking the difference with the "destructive" Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union.

The goal was to experiment with the new "agri-environmental" incentive system and reach an area of ​​10,000 hectares in two years.

The policy change was engineered by Michael Gove, but the Liz Truss government has ordered an overhaul of the subsidy system that has rankled farmers and rankled conservative environmentalists.

extraordinary benefits

While the EU decided to apply a tax on the extraordinary profits of electricity companies, which will allow it to raise 140,000 million euros, Liz Truss was undertaking just the opposite path: eliminating the

that her former rival Rishi Sunak approved when he was Secretary of the Treasury (and that would have allowed him to obtain 35,000 million euros to cover the rise in electricity bills).

," was the argument used by the premier, who worked between 1996 and 2000 for the multinational Shell.

The largest donation to his campaign for the Tory leadership (110,000 euros) came from Fitriani Hay, the wife of a former top manager of the BP oil company, James Hay.

His government has sent powerful signals to the fossil fuel industry, such as the one launched by his minister Jacob Rees-Mogg: "We are going to extract every last cubic meter of gas from the North Sea."

The weather and the King

In their first meeting in Buckingham,

in Egypt next November, according to

.

The king, who already anticipated that they would not have time to dedicate themselves to activism, apparently agreed to the request of the

, although he is studying how to make his "presence" felt (in a recorded message or through his son William).

The climate minister, Alok Sharma, however, has mediated in the controversy and has directly asked the

minister to allow the King's attendance and not to avoid his presence at the summit: "That would serve to cement the United Kingdom's leadership position in a incredibly important matter.

With the change of government and the swerve of Liz Truss, who has not even confirmed her attendance at the next climate summit, the final stretch of the British presidency of the COP is being a nonsense race that threatens to blow up all the work of the Glasgow summit.

turbines on land

The controversial Kwasi Kwarteng, the great disruptor of the British economy, is behind what has been highlighted as the only substantial step of the Truss Government towards the energy transition: the end of the

moratorium that existed against wind energy on land since the 2015, when planning laws changed.

The exponential growth of wind power in the United Kingdom, which now accounts for 25% of the energy pie, had so far been possible thanks to the boom in offshore wind power (11 Gigawatts) that will soon surpass onshore wind power (14 Gigawatts). ).

although the main expansion will be by far on the coasts.

The wind will continue its unstoppable trajectory even under the government of Liz Truss, above all for economic reasons.

The United Kingdom is the European leader in offshore wind power and aims to quadruple its power by 2030.

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