We were told not to do it this way, so therefore we did it.....

The Stern Review was 1200 pages of, firstly, whether we should do anything about climate change and then, secondly, what. It’s remarkable the number of people who accept that whether but refuse, adamantly, to consider the what:

If the 2050 net zero target – the most consequential economic policy decision for generations, made by a piece of secondary legislation without a proper parliamentary debate – wasn’t restrictive enough, the Government is obliged to set binding, five-year carbon budgets which cap the maximum amount of emissions allowed during each period. Ministers face legal action if they fail to do enough to reach them, as judged in part by the apparatchiks on the Climate Change Committee (CCC) quango.

The what we were told to do was use markets and prices. On the grounds that they are more efficient than planning and bureaucracy. Humans have this weird tick, we’ll do more of things that are cheaper, less of those that are more expensive. So, to deal with a problem we want to use the efficient method - because then we’ll do more dealing with the problem.

So, having gained a general political agreement that something must be done about climate change everyone forgot the second part of the lesson on offer.

Which is something of a pity, obviously. But more than that - whatever the terrors of climate change we’re going to have more of them because politics decided to use the wrong tools to deal with it. A cheerful thought for the year end, no?