Net Zero Is Mathematically Impossible

Not only the logic but the numbers don’t add up either

In August 2022, Dr. Simon Michaux created a geological survey that destroys any feasibility in net zero, if there ever was any! The numbers are eye-opening: over 4.5 billion tonnes of copper needed versus just 880 million in reserves, equating to only 20% of what’s required. Similar shortfalls appear for nickel (10%), lithium (10%), cobalt (3.48%), graphite (3.57%), and vanadium (3.52%). Michaux’s detailed report on the quantity of metals for one generation of renewable technology, painted a picture of an insurmountable resource barrier. Three years later, in 2025, with the world pushing harder toward net zero targets, these figures remain a damning indictment. But as we’ll explore, the problem runs deeper: net zero isn’t just impractical, it’s mathematically impossible, built on a foundation of beneficial CO2 denial and a scam designed to siphon wealth from the working class to the elite.

Below is an excellent presentation from Simon speaking at the Sustainable Minerals Institute.

The Resource Crunch: Numbers That Don’t Add Up Michaux’s calculations were based on phasing out hydrocarbons entirely by manufacturing one generation of renewable units, wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles (EVs), to meet global energy demands. For copper alone, the backbone of electrical infrastructure, the report estimated a need for 4.58 billion tonnes. Known reserves at the time? A mere 880 million tonnes. Fast-forward to 2025, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries confirm global copper reserves hover around 890 million tonnes, with total identified resources (including undiscovered) estimated at 2.3 billion tonnes.

Yet, to achieve net zero by 2050 under the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) scenarios, copper demand could quadruple, requiring cumulative production of over 1 billion tonnes by mid-century. The story repeats for other critical metals. Lithium reserves stand at about 98 million tonnes in 2025, but net zero pathways demand up to 200 million tonnes by 2050 for batteries alone. Nickel reserves are around 100 million tonnes, yet projections call for 1.5-2 times that amount. Cobalt, essential for EV batteries, has reserves of just 8.3 million tonnes, while graphite, key for anodes, sits at 340 million tonnes, far short of the billions needed for widespread electrification.

Michaux’s report highlighted that even at peak mining rates, extracting these volumes would take centuries, not decades. A 2025 analysis from the Energy Transitions Commission echoes this, noting that while geological resources exist, extraction rates, environmental regulations, and supply chain bottlenecks make rapid scaling impossible.

The Climate Scam: A Trojan Horse for Wealth Redistribution

This brings us to the heart of the matter: man-made climate change isn’t a scientific consensus, it’s a manufactured crisis engineered to transfer trillions from the poor to the rich. The hockey stick graphs and dire predictions rely on flawed models that exaggerate human impact while ignoring natural cycles like solar activity and ocean currents. Dr Robert Ian Holmes and I discussed the true causes of climate change at length in the latest episode of The Climate Con Podcast. Emails from Climategate revealed data manipulation, yet the narrative persists.

The real agenda? Wealth transfer. Net zero policies funnel subsidies, $7 trillion globally in 2023 alone, to corporations like BlackRock and green tech giants, while hiking energy costs for average families. Carbon taxes and credits disproportionately burden developing nations and the working class, enriching elites through schemes like the Paris Agreement, which could cost trillions in penalties for non-compliance. Critics label it the “largest wealth transfer in history,” from taxpayers to crony capitalists.

Counterarguments claim overwhelming evidence for anthropogenic warming, but skepticism persists: because it’s a lie 97% of climate scientists agree, and predictions of doom (melting ice caps by 2014) routinely fail. It’s a scam that preys on fear, enriching the few while impoverishing the many.