Article by Tony Diver, courtesy of The Telegraph
17.03.2025
Kemi Badenoch will say that the target of reaching net zero by 2050 is “impossible”.
The Tory leader will accuse her predecessors of setting the emissions target without a plan that does not “bankrupt” Britain or cause a “serious drop in our living standards”.
In her biggest policy intervention since being elected as party leader four months ago, Mrs Badenoch will describe the idea of reaching net zero emissions in the next 25 years as a “fiction” and promise to tell the “unvarnished truth” about it to voters.
Net zero policies such as limiting the use of gas boilers and petrol cars have proved divisive, and Labour has appeared to wobble on its commitment to the latter as the 2035 deadline approaches.
Mrs Badenoch’s announcement that she will drop support for the target indicates an appeal to disillusioned Conservative voters who are turning away from the party to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which has already pledged to scrap the target.
She will say: “Net zero by 2050 is impossible. I don’t say that with pleasure, or because I have some ideological desire to dismantle it. In fact, we must do what we can to improve our natural world.
“Anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it can’t be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.
“And responsible leaders don’t indulge in fictions which are going to make families poorer, or mortgage their children’s future – particularly without the rest of the world doing the same – making our country less safe, less secure and less resilient.”
On Monday night, Conservative sources refused to commit to another date for Britain to reach net zero emissions, arguing that the target was always an “announcement, not a policy”.
Mrs Badenoch’s speech will launch a full Conservative policy review, modelled on the work of Keith Joseph, Margaret Thatcher’s chief ideological inspiration, in the 1970s.
Each member of the shadow cabinet will be responsible for a review of their policy areas, with instructions to “rewrite the rules of the game” and consider “every aspect of what the state does and why it does it”.
The plan to drop Britain’s flagship emissions policy is likely to enrage party figures who have supported it for the six years since it was written into law in the final month of Theresa May’s government.
Mrs Badenoch called for more scrutiny of the measures required to reach any emissions target in future, claiming that the net zero plan had been forced through Parliament in just 90 minutes in 2019.
At last year’s election, the Conservative manifesto recommitted the party to reaching the 2050 target, pledging a “pragmatic and proportionate” approach after the UK’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero was established by Rishi Sunak in 2023.
Mrs Badenoch will say on Tuesday that although she is not “debating whether climate change exists”, the targets set by Western governments are unrealistic.
“I badly want to leave a much better environmental inheritance for my children and for yours, but it doesn’t look like the West is going to get remotely close to net zero by 2050,” she will say. “And neither will any autocracy – not that they are really trying to anyway. This is what happens when politics turns into fantasy.”
More than 100 countries have announced net zero targets, with Sweden, France, Denmark, New Zealand and Hungary joining Britain by signing them into law.
But critics of the policies say they have forced governments to prioritise renewables over the price and security of energy for consumers.
Donald Trump has formally scrapped net zero as a policy aim of the US federal government, pledging to focus on cheaper bills by drilling for oil and gas.
Labour has been criticised for its plans to ban gas boilers in new homes, and the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in the drive to hit net zero.
Sir Keir Starmer is also considering joining an EU-wide carbon trading scheme that opponents say will force up bills.
The UK has some of the highest consumer energy costs in the world, which leading industry figures have warned is a major barrier to economic growth.
On Monday, the OECD downgraded the UK’s growth forecast for this year from 1.7 per cent to 1.4 per cent. The economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in January after low growth of 0.7 per cent in December.
Some sectors, including the chemicals and heavy manufacturing industry, have suggested they will reduce investment in the UK unless prices fall.
However, the Government has softened its stance on some issues in recent months amid concerns about net zero policies acting as a brake on economic growth.
Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, said on a recent visit to Japan that there would be “significant” changes to the so-called zero-emissions vehicles mandate because of concerns from manufacturers. Car companies had expressed concerns about fines for selling polluting cars.
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, was recently overruled by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, after he objected to plans for a new runway at Heathrow Airport.