So offshore oil exploration in New Zealand is over and the usual suspects are crowing.

Russell Norman the former green leader was ecstatic. We’ve stood up to one of the most powerful industries in the world.  It’s a victory in the battle against climate change.  We’ll be hailed as world leaders.  Go us!

WWF-New Zealand chief executive Livia Esterhazy said the move was welcome news for critically endangered Maui dolphins. No seismic blasting upsetting their behaviour and sonar.

And Kevin Hague from Forest and Bird, another former Green MP, said oil should stay in the ground because all these recent storms make it unsafe.

So bully for them and the government.  Unfortunately, I’m not one cheering us on.

The energy industry is a devilishly complex and expensive business full of very smart people making very difficult decisions that at the end of the day mean we can buy the products and services we want.  Travel to where we need and enjoy a freedom that previous generations could only dream of.

That complexity means that decisions are complicated and unintended consequences are everywhere. So there are many complex reasons why this is not a great idea

But I can boil my disquiet down to a very simple concept.

Because this move attacks the supply side and not the demand side it will achieve no real effect.  If you’re serious about reducing oil and gas consumption then come up with real alternatives and when they arrive the exploration side will naturally wither and die.

This ban on exploration will not result in a single molecule less of emissions which is why we’re on this path.  Cars will stelch belch particulates.  Plastic bags will still consume oil.  Fabrics will still eat hungrily away at fossil fuels.

Any New Zealand oil used in New Zealand will be replaced by oil imported at great cost to the environment from places that are not as responsible as we are.

Meanwhile, any money we made from our exported oil will be taken out of our pockets.  Money that could fund real emission reduction policies like better effluent disposal on our farms and development of more renewable energies. We just kissed goodbye to a couple of billion dollars. On a day when we hear  that the number of times sewage overflowed into the environment jumped 379 percent last year, as ageing infrastructure struggled to cope with record rains. If you’re serious about the environment keep the oil money and fix the sewage problem.

The oil exploration decision  smacks of a term I’m not fond of.  And that term is virtue signalling. Now it’s not always wrong to signal a virtue.  But it is when the virtue that is being signalled comes at such a great cost and achieves absolutely nothing.

This is not virtue signalling to the world.  It’s ignorance signalling.