Factcheck: UK Conservatives double the ‘cost of net-zero’ after spreadsheet blunder
Carbon Brief reports that the UK Conservative party's policy document contains a significant error, doubling the estimated cost of net-zero policies. The error appears to stem from a spreadsheet miscalculation involving the Climate Change Committee's data.
Why it matters
This highlights the importance of data accuracy in political discourse and the potential for technical errors to influence public policy debates.
A booklet published by the UK’s opposition Conservative party includes a “cost of net-zero” that appears to have been doubled by a spreadsheet error.
The “common sense” policy document argues that “what people ultimately want is a government competent enough to solve the problems for which it takes responsibility”.
In a section that says “sophisticat[ed]…modelling” should not be a substitute for “political judgement”, the “ Right Way ” document disparages various estimates of the cost of net-zero .
The Conservative document then claims – incorrectly – that the government’s official adviser, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), had put the cost of net-zero at close to £1tn. It says:
“In 2020, the CCC estimated that its route to net-zero would cost £957bn.”
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in