DESNZ Has Net Zero Competence – Watts Up With That?

From the DAILY SCEPTIC

by David Turver

The election is over and we all know Labour has won with a massive majority. New ministers have been appointed to the Department of Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the hard job of Government has begun.

Labour has appointed six ministers to DESNZ. However, analysis of their background and experience (see below) reveals two with PPE degrees, one with a degree in history, another with a degree in political studies and one with a degree in history and politics. There’s also one minister gaining a degree in Russian studies before studying law. Not one of them has a background in science, engineering or maths. Almost all of them have worked in the public sector for their whole lives, so between them, there is precious little experience of the commercial world and no experience of the energy sector. Ed Miliband and Miatta Fahnbulleh have qualifications in economics, but the latter describes herself as a “heterodox economist” and she has advocated “flooding the market with cheaper renewables” and introducing “free basic energy”. It can only be ‘heterodox economists’ who think more expensive, intermittent renewables are cheap and think energy is free.

There are three spads listed for Ed Miliband. Jonty Leibowitz studied history at Cambridge. Tobias Garnett studied law at City and then went to study at the Harvard Kennedy School where his thesis was entitled ‘A Just Transition to a Fairer Economy: Labour’s plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.’ Eleanor Salter is the final spad, shared with DEFRA, and it is unclear what her degree subject was but she writes for the Guardian and apparently she is particularly focused on “integrating nature into the climate offer”. No evidence of STEM backgrounds amongst the spads either.

You might think this does not matter, because ministers simply oversee the department and it is civil servants that really run the show. There are seven senior civil servants listed on the DESNZ website. But when you look at their background a similar picture emerges (see below). There are degrees in modern history, geography and modern languages, but precious little evidence of a STEM background anywhere. Only the Chief Scientific Advisor has any sort of science background and that is in chemistry, with a special focus on astrochemistry. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the senior civil servants have any significant experience outside the public sector. There is no evidence of experience in proper commercial businesses in any sector, let alone energy.

The rot does not stop in DESNZ. The department might turn to advisors like the National Grid Electricity System Operator, who have recently published their future energy pathways. Their Strategy and Policy Director, Claire Dykta, oversaw the work and wrote the foreword to the new document. Claire describes herself as a “leading influencer in the energy industry”, as though she was running a TikTok channel. Claire graduated from Aston with a degree in management, business and law, so no evidence of a STEM background either.

DESNZ ministers might look to the Climate Change Committee for advice or instructions. The CCC is currently without a chairman and CEO, but former chairman Lord Deben has a degree in history and former CEO Chris Stark studied finance and law. Despite never delivering anything more taxing than pizza, Stark has been drafted in to lead mission control to deliver a decarbonised grid by 2030. It is thought that Emma Pinchbeck, CEO of renewables cheerleader Energy U.K., is going to take over as CEO of the CCC. Emma has a classics degree from Oxford and began her career as a climate campaigner for WWF. Again, we find no evidence of any STEM expertise or proper commercial experience. The CCC does have some engineers and scientists on the board, but many of them have drunk the Kool-Aid, have interests in renewable energy or get their funding from billionaire climate activists.

Not only does Mad Emperor Miliband have no clothes, his entire entourage have Net Zero garments. We have the blind leading the blind, advised by clueless cronies who do not have the faintest idea about energy, engineering or the commercial world. They simply don’t know what they don’t know and are totally ill-equipped to challenge the tendentious twaddle put before them. Their idea of delivery is drawing boxes and triangles on PowerPoint presentations. Some of them might even be numerate enough to plug numbers into spreadsheets, but they do not have the faintest idea what their models mean in the real world. This is how we get plans for energy that halve per capita energy use by 2050, and nobody bats an eyelid. The entire energy policy establishment is broken.

The biographies of DESNZ ministers and senior civil servants are reproduced below.

DESNZ Labour Ministers

Labour has appointed six ministers to DESNZ:

• Ed Miliband as Secretary of State
• Sarah Jones as Minister of State
• Lord Hunt of Kings Heath as Minister of State
• Kerry McCarthy as Parliamentary Under-Secretary
• Miatta Fahnbulleh as Parliamentary Under-Secretary
• Michael Shanks as Parliamentary Under-Secretary

Let us look at their background and experience.

Ed Miliband

Ed and his brother David are the sons of Ralph Miliband who has been described as “one of the best-known academic Marxists of his generation”. Ed Miliband studied PPE at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, received a master’s in Economics at LSE and was then briefly a researcher for A Week in Politics before he was recruited to work as a researcher and speech writer for Harriet Harman, later becoming a spad for Gordon Brown in 1997. After a brief sabbatical at Harvard, and more advisory work on the Council of Economic Advisors, he became the MP for Doncaster North in 2005. In 2008, he became the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and announced that the U.K. would oblige itself to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, instead of the previously announced 60%.

Since then, he has held various positions, including Leader of the Opposition. However, it is noteworthy, that he has held no job outside of politics and media, and certainly has no first-hand knowledge of energy or engineering.

Sarah Jones MP

Sarah Jones read History at Durham and joined the Labour Party in 1992, and worked for Labour MP Mo Mowlam. She has also worked for Shelter and as the Head of Public Affairs for the NHS Confederation. Sarah served as a senior civil servant helping to deliver the 2012 Olympics and held various other roles, including working for Gatwick Airport. She was elected to Parliament in 2017 and, since then, she has chaired an APPG on knife crime and been a Shadow Minister for Housing and, later, Shadow Minister for the Police and Fire Service. Again, it is difficult to find any specific energy or engineering expertise.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Lord Hunt graduated in 1970 from the University of Leeds with a degree in political studies. His working career was in the healthcare sector, and since being elevated to the Lords, he has held ministerial positions in Health, Department for Work and Pensions, DEFRA and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It is difficult to find any evidence of him ever working (other than as a minister) in energy or engineering, or indeed outside the public sector.

Kerry McCarthy MP

Kerry McCarthy read Russian Studies at Liverpool University before studying law at the City of London Polytechnic. She has worked as a lawyer for Abbey National and Merrill Lynch and held senior positions at Britain in Europe and the Waterfront Partnership. She was elected to Parliament in 2005 and has held various shadow ministerial positions, becoming Shadow Minister for Climate Change in 2022. Once again, we find no experience in energy, engineering, or STEM.

Miatta Fahnbulleh MP

Miatta Fahnbulleh studied PPE at Lincoln College, Oxford, and then gained a PhD in Economic Development from the LSE. She has described herself as a heterodox economist and, whilst head of the New Economics Foundation (NEF), certainly advocated some, shall we say, unconventional policies. These include “flooding the energy market with cheap renewables and introducing free basic energy”. Miatta and NEF have also advocated an additional windfall tax on oil and gas companies. Miatta was promoted to a ministerial position just a few days after first being elected to Parliament this year. Perhaps she might find these cheap renewables under a magic money tree. Again, no STEM experience and no experience of the private sector.

Michael Shanks MP

Michael Shanks graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in History and Politics. He worked in a charity for a while before becoming a teacher. He taught Modern Studies at a school in Scotland. He was elected to Parliament in a by-election in December 2023. Yet another minister without STEM experience and no experience of the commercial world.

Senior DESNZ Civil Servants

There are six senior civil servants in DESNZ, supported by a chief scientific advisor. These are:

• Jeremy Pocklington – Permanent Secretary
• Clive Maxwell – Second Permanent Secretary
• Jonathan Mills – Director General Energy and Markets Supply
• Ashley Ibbett – Director General of Energy Infrastructure
• Lee McDonough – Director General of Net Zero, Nuclear and International
• Ben Rimmington – Director General of Net Zero Buildings and Industry
• Professor Paul Monks – DESNZ Chief Scientific Advisor

Jeremy Pocklington

Jeremy Pocklington is the senior civil servant in DESNZ. He graduated from Oxford with a degree in Modern History and later gained a master’s in Economics and Social History. His entire career has been in the Civil Service with spells at the Treasury, the Cabinet Office, DECC and MHCLG. He became the Permanent Secretary in DESNZ in February 2023.

Clive Maxwell

Clive Maxwell graduated from Oxford with a degree in geography in 1992. The experience in his LinkedIn profile does not begin until July 2000, when he became the Head of Environmental and Transport Taxes and Savings Incentives in the Treasury. He then worked his way up in the Treasury before moving to the Office of Fair Trading, where he eventually became the Chief Executive. He subsequently returned to the Civil Service, where he held various senior positions in BEIS and DfT, before becoming the Second Permanent Secretary in DESNZ.

Jonathan Mills

It is not clear what subject Jonathan Mills studied at university, but he is listed as having an MA and MPhil in his biography on the website of De Montford University, so we can be reasonably certain that he is not from a STEM background. Since 2017, he has worked in several senior civil service roles. His career before 2017 is not listed in his biography.

Ashley Ibbett

Ashley Ibbett has been a civil servant for over two decades and has worked in a wide range of roles covering trade, science, innovation, competition and energy. It is not known if he had a career before joining the Civil Service, and his degree subject is not listed.

Lee McDonough

Lee McDonough is a career civil servant with an MBA from Imperial College. She has worked in several departments such as DEFRA, Health, BEIS and is now in charge of Net Zero, Nuclear and International at DESNZ. Her original degree is not listed.

Ben Rimmington

Ben Rimmington is a career civil servant with a degree in modern languages from Cambridge. He joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in 1995 and has worked in the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Business Innovation and Skills, Leeds City Enterprise Partnership, DfT and now DESNZ. There is no evidence of commercial experience, and clearly, he has no STEM background.

Professor Paul Monks

Professor Paul Monks graduated from Warwick University with a degree in Chemistry and went on to gain a doctorate in the same subject from Oxford. His career since then has been in research and academia, including a stretch at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre where he worked on astrochemistry. He became Chief Scientific Advisor to BEIS in 2020 and to DESNZ in 2023. At last, we have found someone with a STEM background, although in Chemistry with a special interest in astrochemistry. There is no evidence of experience in the commercial world.

David Turver writes the Eigen Values Substack page, where this article first appeared.