Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser last Friday led a coalition of governments calling for the phase-out of subsidies to fossil fuels in the lead-up to a major climate conference in Paris.

Which is fine. I don’t think there should be any govt subsidies for anything, and anyone with a brain knows how frequently the govt’s choice of “winners” turns out to be a costly and embarrassing mistake.

Groser says with an infuriatingly false air of authority-

“The elimination of fossil fuel subsidies would make a significant contribution to the goal of keeping average temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The AGW brigade is yet to confirm any link between CO2 in the air and climate change, with the latest records suggesting the possibility is extremely unlikely. (see chart) So any talk of a drop of two degrees celsius is pie in the sky lunacy.

However on the issue of subsidies, what we really need to do is back right away from subsiding so many so called “renewable energy” schemes.

Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy have recently shown that such “investments” have very poor returns. The German Government recently announced that its transition to Renewable Energy was, “On the Verge of Failure.”

Since the introduction of the “Renewable Energy” law (EEG) in 2000 aimed at replacing coal and gas-fired as well as nuclear power generation by so-called renewable energy sources, the household price for electricity has jumped by more than 200 %.

German customers now pay the second-highest electricity prices in Europe. At the same time, the task of stabilizing the grid against the massive erratic influx from solar and wind power plants that produce without regard for actual need has pushed the operators to their limits. Now already, with a combined share of just some 13 % of total electricity production, their unreliable input is massively imperiling the stability of the grid.

Australia tells a similar story. On present plans, a nominal 20 per cent of electricity is to be sourced from renewables by 2020. By that year the excessive cost burden on the economy will be $5 billion a year and rising. This entails crippling subsidies paid by consumers and businesses. The imposition has been a factor in the foreshadowed plant closures of Holden, Electrolux and the aluminium smelters at Kurri Kurri and Point Henry.

Spain is cutting subsidies for clean energy production, a sector in which it has become a leader in Europe, as part of a wave of crisis spending cuts, the government said on Friday. The government decided to “temporarily suspend economic incentives for new installations for electricity production from renewable energy sources”, it said in a statement after a cabinet meeting.

“The complex economic and financial situation makes it advisable to remove temporarily the incentives for building these installations,” since the system was costing too much, it said.

The Italian govt is in a confrontation with solar power companies whose sale price for electricity is causing massive consumer unrest. The govt has mandated that the companies must reduce their charges, but the companies say their profits are already negligible.

So this is where Groser and his like UN toadies will take NZ. Where even though we have the benefit of geothermal and hydro, its no guarantee we won’t end up in the same ruinous economic boat as other countries who have gone down the wind and solar renewables road.

So not only are such subsidies a massive waste there’s no good reason for them. However Groser keeps trying to pull the wool over our eyes to keep in good with UN crooks and con artists who are his buddies.

Disgraceful really, but little will change while Clueless Key and his boys and girls remain high in the polls. The alternatives of course would quite probably be even worse. However if we could just get rid of the lame arsed Groser, it would make me personally feel a whole lot better.