Tomorrows problems

You can’t solve tomorrows problems with yesterday’s thinking

Let’s get straight to it: I’m being taxed as if I’m the problem, for driving a pick-up truck that runs on a fuel specifically designed to be part of the solution. That’s right. My vehicle, powered by Syntech ASB, a second-generation, advanced sustainable biofuel with dramatically lower carbon emissions than conventional diesel, is being treated the same by HMRC as if I was chucking out black smoke from a 2005 transit van.

Now, I’m not normally one for publicly throwing my toys out of the pram, but this is symptomatic of a bigger issue, policy lag. We’re all being urged to innovate, to cut emissions, to act urgently on climate, and when we do, what’s the reward? In this case, a tax system is still based on outdated assumptions and lazy category boxes. It’s as if someone at HMRC decided:

“If it looks like a truck, smells like a truck, and gets muddy like a truck, we’ll just call it diesel and whack on the standard rate.”

We need change. More than that, we need agility in the system, recognition that innovation is happening in real time and that government, regulators, and policy writers need to catch up, or they’ll end up being the blockers rather than the enablers of climate solutions. I completely understand that the treasury needs money and I don’t mind paying my whack, but if we’re serious about reaching Net Zero, then the fuel in the tank should matter. Syntech ASB isn’t just a drop-in diesel alternative, it’s a radically cleaner, circular, UK-produced biofuel. Penalising those who use it sends entirely the wrong message.

And while I’m on the soapbox over that, let’s talk heat. London is set to boil next week with 35°C days forecast, and you can feel the panic-buying creeping in. Amazon is about to have another bumper week shifting box after box of cheap, plug-in air conditioning units. It’s understandable, of course, people (including yours truly) want to stay cool. But here’s the irony: the more units we plug in, the more strain we place on our electricity grid (which, while improving, is still partly fossil-fuelled), and the more emissions we generate.

This is the cycle we have to break. Comfort and convenience are driving behaviours that, collectively, make us hotter in the long term. We’ve all become experts in coping, but not in adapting. What if we flipped the focus to local, passive cooling design? What if, instead of buying the latest plasticky quick fix, we invested in green spaces, solar-reflective coatings, tree-lined streets, natural ventilation, and shared cool zones in our communities?

The answer isn’t more gadgets. It’s more systems thinking. And that comes from a guy who loves his gadgets. It’s time we stopped pretending that consumer-led overconsumption is just a symptom. It is the problem. We’ve got to push harder for circular economy approaches, not just in materials but in behaviours, architecture, and how we define what a ‘cool’ future actually looks like.

And while we’re talking future, here’s a prediction for you: Bananas in Kent.

No, I haven’t been on the Syntech rum. If these temperature trends continue, we’ll be swapping out Cox apples and Bramleys for bunches of Fyffes Cavendish. That might sound like a punchline, but it’s a genuine signal of change. Kent, the Garden of England, is already adapting to grape growing on a commercial scale. Banana crops aren’t as far-fetched as they used to be, and that should give us all pause.

Agriculture is one of the quietest canaries in the climate coalmine. A shift in what we can grow where is a direct, measurable outcome of rising temperatures, and while it might sound like a quirky regional novelty, it has deep consequences for water, soil, biodiversity, and the stability of local food systems.

So whether it’s unjust taxes on low-carbon transport, a short-sighted dash for artificial cooling, or the literal fruits of climate change, one thing’s clear: we can’t tackle tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s thinking.

It’s time for policy, behaviour, and infrastructure to grow up, fast, and meet the challenge head on. That means recognising and rewarding real solutions, rejecting false comforts, and embracing the uncomfortable truth: we have to change how we live now, or we’ll end up living with the consequences forever.

Story by Syntech Biofuel