Allow us to explain: The planners have been trying to plan

We do actually have a great big, 1200 page, report on what we should do about climate change:

Why ‘the UK’s biggest carbon emitter’ receives billions in green subsidies

The Drax power plant burns 7m tonnes of biomass pellets a year and generates 4% of the UK’s electricity needs

The why is that the planners decided to try planning. As that 1200 page Stern Review says not to do.

For planners always will get it wrong. Partly because just planning. Partly because the economy is complex therefore any plan will end up more than a bit Heath Robinson. Partly because those being planned will react to the plans and drive coach and horses through the jury-rigged nonsense.

Which is why the Stern suggestions are to keep it simple, stupid. Have the one, grand, intervention into prices and leave the market be to sort it all out. The big point being that this is efficient. Efficiency matters too. For humans do less of things that are more expensive and more of those that are cheaper. Therefore if we adopt the efficient - not the expensive - method of dealing with climate change we will, wholly naturally, do more dealing with climate change.

This isn’t difficult even though it clearly does not accord with political beliefs about the ability of politicians and plans. But there we are.

The reason the country’s largest emitter gets subsidised is that political egos were large enough to think that planning was the solution.

Tim Worstall