Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak prepared Wednesday to weaken key targets in the country’s efforts to slow climate change. This could be a crucial policy change for a country that claims to lead the world in the fight against global warming.
After reports in the British news media flagged the changes, Mr Sunak issued a statement late Tuesday saying that while he remained committed to his ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, he now aimed to target in a “better, more proportionate way.” He also said politicians across the political spectrum “have not been honest about the costs and trade-offs” of environmental policies.
His statement did not deny speculation that he was planning seven new measures for Britain, including a delay until 2035, instead of 2030, on a ban on the sale of new cars powered only by petrol and diesel, and a weakening of the phase-out objectives. gas boilers. He promised to address the issue in more detail in a speech later this week.
Mr Sunak must call a general election by January 2025, and his Conservative Party is trailing the opposition Labor Party in the opinion polls at a time of slow economic growth and high inflation. But in July the Conservatives won a surprise victory in the parliamentary elections in northwest London, when they campaigned against moves by the city’s Labor mayor to expand an air quality initiative that would charge drivers of older, more polluting vehicles brings.
That political context suggests that a shift in climate policy and an emphasis on avoiding financial burdens on voters may be intended to draw a dividing line with the Labor Party before the general election.
British news media suggested that Mr Sunak was also expected to say in his speech that there would be no new energy efficiency rules for landlords or homeowners, or measures to encourage carpooling, and no new taxes that would discourage air travel. The Prime Minister could also rule out increased recycling requirements.
Still, any weakening of climate-related measures is a risk at a time of growing public awareness about global warming, after Europe suffered record heat and devastating forest fires and floods last summer.
The timing was also shocking internationally, as the United Nations General Assembly discusses climate protection policies. Earlier this year, the body’s secretary general, António Guterres, warned that the era of global warming had ended and that “the era of global boiling has arrived.” Mr Sunak was conspicuously absent from the meeting and sent his deputy prime minister to New York on his behalf.
Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party is also divided over the issue. While several lawmakers in the party praised the new approach, others were critical. Chris Skidmore, a Conservative MP, told the BBC that the changes were “potentially the biggest mistake” of Mr Sunak’s term so far, adding that “achieving net zero will bring a benefit and no cost. ”
Perhaps even worse for Mr Sunak was an angry response from Ford UK, whose chairman, Lisa Brankin, issued a statement on the delayed ban on new petrol and diesel-only cars, saying: “Our business needs three things from the British government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation by 2030 would undermine all three.”
Supporters of Mr Sunak’s policy changes argue that the delay has brought Britain into line with European Union policies.
“I have long been calling on the government to make a common sense decision to postpone the planned ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars,” Karl McCartney, a Conservative MP, wrote on the social platform known as Twitter. “Just like countries like France and Germany have done.”
And Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the BBC on Wednesday: “We are not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people.”