The climate emergency is not a priority for Rishi Sunak. Britain is committed to reaching net zero by 2050, but the prime minister is focused on a closer horizon. The environment does not feature among the five pledges on which he asks to be judged at the next election. Ministers take their lead from Downing Street, rationing their urgency for things that are likely to be noticed by the boss. And so, with grim inevitability, environmental policy has slid down the agenda. Britain, having been a leader in the field, is becoming a slacker. That is the conclusion of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the panel of experts that advises government and monitors progress towards lower carbon emissions.
The CCC’s latest report, published on Wednesday, describes a pattern of failure across a range of fields, from home insulation and electric vehicle charging to renewable power generation and decarbonising heavy industry. The UK has forfeited the leadership role afforded by the Cop26 presidency and missed the potentially galvanising moment presented by the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the committee’s judgment, Britain “did not embrace the rapid steps that could have been taken to reduce energy demand and grow renewable generation”, but has instead “backtracked on fossil fuel commitments”, with consent given for a new coal mine and new licences for North Sea oil and gas production.
Public concern over climate issues has never been higher. It is not a preoccupation exclusive to the young or the left, or a fixation for an activist minority, although many Conservative MPs see it in those terms. The government has put more effort into public order legislation targeting a tiny number of radical climate protesters than engaging with mainstream concerns about the future of the planet. The only climate content in Tory campaigns is the cynical caricature of fanatical “eco-warriors” wielding a pernicious influence over Labour policy.
That is a bleak embitterment of rhetoric from a party that has, in recent years, tried to embrace an upbeat message about the benefits of carbon neutrality. Sadly, the attacks are working. The opposition has flinched. Labour is still formally committed to a “green energy revolution”, but no longer boasts about it, and the associated spending commitments have been watered down.
Mr Sunak’s priorities reflect a reluctance to challenge a rightwing Conservative faction that casts practical measures towards net zero as burdens on business, expensive misallocations of budget resources that would be better deployed on tax cuts, and – in more lurid versions – a socialist corrosion of economic freedoms. That position is bolstered by effective lobbying from industries and oil-exporting countries that have deep vested interests in the carbon-intensive status quo.
Its isn’t clear whether the prime minister’s indulgence of that tendency is a matter of ideological affinity or just cowardice. It could be both. Either way, the effect is already being felt in regressive steps that Lord Deben, the outgoing chair of the CCC and a former Conservative environment minister, describes as “utterly unacceptable”.
With so many other issues weighing on voters’ minds, a downgrade in Britain’s commitment to net zero might not have much impact on Mr Sunak’s election prospects either way. The prime minister can afford to show leadership on this issue simply because it is the right thing to do. It is revealing that he has chosen the opposite path.
