This is a sponsored post
Let's just imagine that the IPCC really has backed itself into a corner over what it is going to say about the extent of future global warming, and that they are forced to say something much closer to "dunno" than "we're all going to fry". What if, as Fraser Nelson suggested in his leader article last week, sanity really is starting to return to the climate change debate?
;)
If he's right, then our attentions need to be turning to how we get out of the appalling pickle we have got ourselves into, a pickle that Ed Miliband's prognostications earlier in the week seem to have made infinitely worse. This being the case, the Spectator conference on energy futures looks like it will be a useful step in the right direction.
Appealingly entitled, "How do we stop the lights going out", the conference is described as follows:
The UK´s coal-fired and nuclear power stations are being closed down — but plans for new electricity generating capacity to replace remain tied up in political argument and inertia.
At best, the margin of reliable supply over peak demand will be squeezed to a bare minimum, heavily dependent on imported gas, and energy bills will soar.
At worst, sometime in the next decade, the lights really will go out. How should ministers address this crisis now?
The cast of speakers is stellar, with Ed Davey, Paul Stephens and Tom Burke from the green side of the debate and Benny Peiser, Ian Fells, Nick Butler, and Nick Grealy representing those who actually worry about, you know, keeping the lights on. I gather there are other prominent speakers still to be confirmed.
The timing of the conference is amusing too. Although it's about energy, you can't help wonder if the Fifth Assessment Report will rear its (no doubt) ugly head - the whole focus on renewables presupposes, after all, that scientists understand the climate and that future warming is going to be high. It will be fun watching the green contingent having either to explain away why the IPCC now doesn't understand the pause in warming, or alternatively dealing with the laughter when they try to explain away a sudden discovery of an explanation at some point in the last few weeks.
Details here.