Are growth and net zero really star-crossed lovers, or can they find a happy marriage? We get two writers to hash it out in this week’s Debate

Yes: Using more to produce less creates a green growth paradox

Growth is simple, it’s either inventing new stuff or providing old stuff using fewer inputs. Net zero conversely is a political target that requires the UK to emit zero greenhouse gases (mostly CO2), on balance, from all economic activity by 2050.

To achieve this first requires the decarbonisation of our energy system, currently 75 per cent dependent on fossil fuels (mostly oil and gas), given energy is the primary input to all other activities. The government’s preferred path is using technologies like renewables (mainly offshore wind) that use more inputs (mostly land and grid infrastructure) to produce less energy, less reliably, meaning a costly dual energy system to provide back-up. It has wiser ambitions to expand nuclear power, but this is much longer term.

The new stuff then isn’t new – it provides old energy services such as heat, power, and transport in a different way. Nor is it efficient, using more resources to produce less energy means everything costs more, including in renewables supply chains (for example concrete, cables, and steel), creating a ‘green growth paradox’. The best illustration of which is perhaps carbon capture and storage, that........

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