‘The Greatest Mistake of His Premiership’: UK’s Sunak Rolls Back Net Zero Plans

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced changes to Britain’s plans for addressing the climate crisis that effectively water down earlier commitments by delaying targets and relaxing the energy transition timeline.

Sunak said the ban on sales of new gas-powered vehicles would be extended from 2030 to 2035, citing the “unacceptable costs” the energy transition had imposed on British households and a need to maintain the public’s approval of the path to net zero emissions, reported Reuters. The prime minister said he would also ease the transition from residential gas stoves to heat pumps.

“It cannot be right for Westminster to impose such significant costs on working people,” Sunak said, as The New York Times reported. “If we continue down this path we risk losing the consent of the British people.”

Sunak said his commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 had not changed, but that Britain would be able to slow its progress because it was already “so far ahead of every other country in the world,” reported Reuters.

Environmental activists and businesses said decarbonizing the economy offers a chance to increase economic growth and investments and create high-earning jobs.

But in order for that to happen, they say the government would need to give consumers and companies a predictable and stable environment.

Alok Sharma, who served as COP26 president, told the BBC that backtracking on net zero promises would be “incredibly damaging for business confidence,” as CNN reported. “Frankly, I really do not believe that it’s going to help any political party electorally which chooses to go down this path,” Sharma added.

A variety of businesses, including producers of cars, electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels were dismayed by the government’s relaxing of climate commitments.

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three,” said Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK, as reported by The New York Times.

Conservative Member of Parliament Chris Skidmore, who is the former chair of the government’s net zero review, told the BBC that Sunak risked making “the greatest mistake of his premiership,” warning that the UK could end up missing out on “growth, jobs and future prosperity.”

The opposition Labour Party said it was committed to the original target of 2030, Reuters reported.

Britain was the world’s first major economy to legally commit to net zero by 2050. Since 1990, emissions have been cut almost in half, with the closing of coal power plants and the success of offshore wind power.

“[D]elivering on net zero provides a benefit not a cost,” Skidmore told the BBC, as reported by The New York Times.