{"id":347766,"date":"2024-10-20T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347766"},"modified":"2024-10-20T08:00:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T06:00:31","slug":"the-energy-crisis-commission-is-just-another-green-blob-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347766","title":{"rendered":"The Energy Crisis Commission is Just Another Green Blob Front"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ben Pile<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another day, another green report. This time, in response to rising energy prices, a report has been published by something calling itself the Energy Crisis Commission. But the report flies in the face of sound economics when it tries to address the hardships faced by millions of individuals and businesses due to shy-high energy prices by calling for \u201ca clear strategy for shifting away from fossil fuels, particularly gas\u201d. Well, guess what: that\u2019s because the \u201cCommission\u201d is just another bog-standard Green Blob front! Who could have guessed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA new report out today from the Energy Crisis Commission shows energy experts are backing the Labour Government\u2019s mission for Clean Power by 2030\u201d, tweeted<\/a> Ed Milliband. Well, of course they do. For when one visits the Commission\u2019s website<\/a>, it is soon revealed that, \u201cThe Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit<\/a> [ECIU] is providing the secretariat for the Commission.\u201d The ECIU is a well-connected but dysfunctional fake civil society organisation, which is wholly funded<\/a> by green philanthropic outfits the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and the adjacent Meliore Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel that I write a lot about organisations that are wholly or mostly funded by the ECF, and it often feels that this is repetitive. But that is because most organisations active in the climate domain in the U.K. are funded by the ECF directly, or by one of the half dozen or so of the ECF\u2019s grantor philanthropic foundations. The ECF is opaque about its sources of cash and its grantees, but it appears to be a green money-go-round \u2013 the Guardian <\/em>would call it \u201cdark money\u201d \u2013 that puts distance between financial interests and corporate lobbying outfits styled as \u201ccivil society organisations\u201d. What is remarkable is how many organisations that are seemingly distinct and \u201cindependent\u201d are in fact operated under the strategic direction of their funders, whom they share accommodation with. The ECIU and the ECF are at the same \u201cSE1 1LB\u201d address of a virtual serviced offices \u2013 their footprints as entities being as vaporous as their output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These aren\u2019t real organisations; they are ghosts summoned by the will of money and ideology in some nebulous physical form to do their malign work before fading away. Green organisations \u2013 ECF grantees \u2013 have long campaigned for higher energy prices, and long attempted to distort the public discussion about how and why prices are going up, despite their false promises that renewables will be cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it is that the commission explains: \u201cWe consider this crisis to have started in August\/September 2021, when gas prices started to rise, however the key tipping point for record prices was in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.\u201d And I feel I am repeating myself, again, when I point out that the commission\u2019s lazy analysis is false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy traders had told me long before the Summer of 2021 that unusual price movements were signalling very high future prices. By Autumn 2021, European natural gas spot prices had reached nearly \u20ac100\/MWh, way above the historical average of about \u20ac18. The immediate aftermath of Russia\u2019s invasion prompted a small spike to about \u20ac119, followed by a summer spike up to \u20ac240, which is when the ECF-funded Carbon Brief (also located at the phantom \u201cSE1 1LB\u201d) produced its \u201cwind power is nine times cheaper than gas\u201d claim. That is to say that the most significant rise occurs before the outbreak of war. This is shown more clearly when prices are viewed on a chart with a logarithmic axis, which better shows relative growth than a chart with a linear vertical axis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the 22 months between the slump in demand in May 2020, to the month following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, EU natural gas prices rose a staggering 2,753% \u2013 approximately 16% per month. Over the next five months to the August 2022 peak, the price rose a further 68%, at approximately equivalent to 11% per month. The evidence might just as well be made to show the converse of the commission\u2019s claim: that the invasion in fact caused gas prices to collapse. The opposite conclusion is only obtained by misreading the linear chart, which appears to show a peak in the months following the invasion \u2013 a post hoc ergo propter hoc<\/em> fallacy. The far more significant features of the price signal occurred before the event \u2013 though Russian reduction of supply and EU sanctions following the invasion undoubtedly tightened supply and pushed prices up further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price then fell precipitously over the months to May 2023. Speculation may have driven some of this volatility, but the biggest elephant in the room causing the big splash of high prices in 2022 was lockdowns, or more precisely recovery from lockdowns, including the extraordinary money-printing that had financed economic torpor. Gas production capacity had been slashed during this period, and recovery put pressures on supplies. Russia is largely a scapegoat for the catastrophic impact of Western climate and Covid policy failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Green Blob outfit paying Potemkin commissions to write sympathetic reports about the problem of energy price rises strikes me as analogous to a drug cartel financing rehab centres. One only need to imagine the complaints from the Green Blob if it had turned out to be a \u201ccommission\u201d funded by gas companies which found that the solution to energy price rises was to invest more in gas production. But the difference is that increasing gas production would at least close the gap between supply and demand, and therefore lower price. Histrionics from greens typically frame the problem of \u201cinterested parties\u201d putting partial advice into the public sphere. But high prices benefit producers, whereas lower prices serve consumers. Ironically, greens and oil tycoons share interests here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who are these commissioners who lack any grasp of basic economics, claiming to speak for the poor? Two of the panel, former MP David Laws and Dhara Vyas, hail from Energy U.K. \u2013 the industry lobbying outfit that the new Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee, Emma Pinchbeck has recently slithered from<\/a>. Blob<\/em>. Louise Hellem is Chief Economist at the Remain-fanatic, pro-lockdown Confederation of British Industry. Blob<\/em>. Professor of Energy Policy at UCL, Jim Watson boasts<\/a> many roles in advising Parliament, governments and intergovernmental agencies on energy security and emissions reduction among other things. Blob<\/em>. These people have produced precisely the report you would expect them to. But they were joined by Gillian Cooper,  Executive Director of Partnerships and Advocacy at Citizens Advice, and Adam Scorer, Chief Executive at National Energy Action (NEA), the \u201cnational charity working to end fuel poverty\u201d. These are organisations who we would expect to put the interests of their clients before lofty agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so, apparently. \u201cWe must pursue the twin aims of clean heat and warm homes in lockstep,\u201d said Scorer<\/a> on X. And once again, this virtue signalling arrives with no evidence of having been tested by basic arithmetic. Despite NEA being supported by countless energy companies, charities and local and national governments, U.K. domestic energy prices have tripled thanks to green policies \u2013 and foreign and Covid policies, too \u2013 without comment from NEA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would seem that the British Establishment, of which Citizens Advice and NEA are a part, is as good as the ECF at spawning off-the-shelf blob-fronts, populated by individuals who are naturally happier occupying such positions than challenging the Establishment they are part of. Millions of people are facing cold and rising bills this winter, and the \u201cCitizens Advice\u201d to Government is apparently to close down more oil and gas fields and create more weather-dependent renewables without regard for reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuccessive governments had the chance to lower the U.K.\u2019s dependence on fossil fuels and avoid some of the worst of these impacts,\u201d says the report. But that is simply false Green Blob mythology. As has been explained in previous posts, retrofitting houses with insulation and other energy efficiency measures capable of significantly reducing energy usage are simply not cost-effective from the consumer\u2019s point of view. Even at today\u2019s high energy prices, they would never \u201cpay for themselves\u201d in any reasonable time frame. And there are simply no technologies that could provide so-called \u201cclean heat\u201d to consumers at grid scale in the event of a dark and windless day or week. The commission is basing its claims on fantasies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of the hapless consumer? He is ensnared by the phantom institutions that represent the green ideology-addled British Establishment rather than his own interests while being fed the story of that Russia is to blame for his predicament. The U.K. could be producing its own gas and exporting plenty too, and an independent commission of energy experts could be pointing this out. But that possibility has been ruled inadmissible by the flood of phantom \u2018civil society\u2019 organisations that surround Westminster. The phantom \u201cCommission\u201d, convened by that swarm of spectres, adds to the chorus. At some point the public is going to discover for itself that U.K. energy and climate policy is far worse than any climate change, and that its interests have been harmed more by the British establishment than by Russia. That experience is likely to be very painful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another day, another green report. This time, in response to rising energy prices, a report has been published by something calling itself the Energy Crisis Commission. But the report flies in the face of sound economics when it tries to address the hardships faced by millions of individuals and businesses due to shy-high energy prices by calling for \u201ca clear strategy for shifting away from fossil fuels, particularly gas\u201d. Well, guess what: that\u2019s because the \u201cCommission\u201d is just another bog-standard Green Blob front! Who could have guessed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":347767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819134,691819743,691819630,691831014,691819814,691822002,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-347766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-alarmism","9":"tag-climate-propaganda","10":"tag-energy-crisis","11":"tag-energy-crisis-commission","12":"tag-energy-prices-2","13":"tag-green-blob","14":"tag-net-zero","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Screenshot-2024-10-17-235903.jpeg?fit=1397%2C850&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1st8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":347921,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347921","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":0},"title":"The Energy Crisis Commission is Just Another Green Blob Front \u2013 The Daily\u00a0Sceptic","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Amongst Ben\u2019s revelations is that this so-called independent commission has been using the ECIU as its secretariat \u2013 in layman\u2019s terms, that means writing the report. The ECIU, of course, are the Net Zero lobby group, originally founded by the BBC\u2019s Richard Black, who have been regularly spewing misinformation for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Committee on Climate Change\"","block_context":{"text":"Committee on Climate Change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=committee-on-climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/OIG-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/OIG-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/OIG-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/OIG-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":232800,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=232800","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":1},"title":"Green Energy Construction Company Collapse Triggers Aussie Government Crisis Talks","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Green energy construction firm destroyed by the shift to green energy? $10 billion of energy transition projects at\u00a0risk.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-151.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-151.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-151.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-151.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":412944,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=412944","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":2},"title":"\u201cExistential Crisis\u201d: German Chancellor Demands Tariff Protection for Industry Hit by High Energy Prices","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Germany\u2019s steel industry is facing an \u201cexistential crisis\u201d, Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned, as he signalled a shift toward greater economic self-reliance in Europe. He spoke alongside Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil following a summit at the Chancellery on Thursday, convened to find ways to secure the sector\u2019s future.","rel":"","context":"In \"Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU)\"","block_context":{"text":"Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=economics-minister-katherina-reiche-cdu"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP4W2EsJEJM9MW5eqml9VpEjrxr441T9FpBgVPCP2n9iFFFoWZnMRMnotwvAQu-gdJyDbvOYzshuyAw9gUQilEAB6t5EQvX6sir19r0TT8Tzwjd1SJuTjQDy3K9vebr-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP4W2EsJEJM9MW5eqml9VpEjrxr441T9FpBgVPCP2n9iFFFoWZnMRMnotwvAQu-gdJyDbvOYzshuyAw9gUQilEAB6t5EQvX6sir19r0TT8Tzwjd1SJuTjQDy3K9vebr-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP4W2EsJEJM9MW5eqml9VpEjrxr441T9FpBgVPCP2n9iFFFoWZnMRMnotwvAQu-gdJyDbvOYzshuyAw9gUQilEAB6t5EQvX6sir19r0TT8Tzwjd1SJuTjQDy3K9vebr-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP4W2EsJEJM9MW5eqml9VpEjrxr441T9FpBgVPCP2n9iFFFoWZnMRMnotwvAQu-gdJyDbvOYzshuyAw9gUQilEAB6t5EQvX6sir19r0TT8Tzwjd1SJuTjQDy3K9vebr-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP4W2EsJEJM9MW5eqml9VpEjrxr441T9FpBgVPCP2n9iFFFoWZnMRMnotwvAQu-gdJyDbvOYzshuyAw9gUQilEAB6t5EQvX6sir19r0TT8Tzwjd1SJuTjQDy3K9vebr-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":292807,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292807","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":3},"title":"Germany: \u201cRenewable Energy Sector Facing The Abyss\u201d\u2026\u201dOn The Brink\u201d \u2026Economy Breaking Up","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Germany\u2019s\u00a0Blackout News here reports\u00a0on how Germany\u2019s move into renewable energies has gone from \u201ca boom to crisis\u201d.","rel":"","context":"In \"energy crisis\"","block_context":{"text":"energy crisis","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-crisis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-736-1024x576-2.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-736-1024x576-2.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-736-1024x576-2.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-736-1024x576-2.webp?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":210664,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=210664","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":4},"title":"The Gas Is Always Greener\u2026","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026on the other side of the Channel (and especially in Germany). Or so Politico (among others)\u00a0reports. The situation is covered by\u00a0EU legislation\u00a0which, in the inimitable style of the Brussels Eurocrats, runs to fifteen pages. You would have to be something of a masochist to read it all, but probably the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-355.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-355.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-355.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-355.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-355.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":255090,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=255090","url_meta":{"origin":347766,"position":5},"title":"Net Zero is Being Mugged by Reality and the People Are Waking Up","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"They are right to do so: green fanatics aspire to dictate every aspect of life, for you and everyone else in the world, just as the National Socialists and the Communist commissars tried to do.","rel":"","context":"In \"eco-zealots\"","block_context":{"text":"eco-zealots","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=eco-zealots"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-no-emissions-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C648&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-no-emissions-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C648&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-no-emissions-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C648&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-no-emissions-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C648&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-no-emissions-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C648&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=347766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347771,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347766\/revisions\/347771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/347767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=347766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=347766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=347766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}