In a speech, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will say she is not making a ‘moral judgment’ on net zero or debating climate change – but that net zero by 2050 is unachievable
Kemi Badenoch is facing a backlash from Tory environmentalists after it emerged she will claim that net zero by 2050 is “impossible”.
In a speech on Tuesday, the Tory leader will say she is not making a “moral judgment” on net zero or debating whether climate change exists, but that the target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 cannot be achieved without a drop in living standards. But Sam Hall, director of the Conservative Environment Network, quickly warned her she was making a “mistake” by jumping the gun on her own policy review.
He responded: “It is a mistake for Kemi Badenoch to have jumped the gun on her own policy review and decided net zero isn’t possible by 2050. This undermines the significant environmental legacy of successive Conservative governments who provided the outline of a credible plan for tackling climate change. The important question now is how to build out this plan in a way that supports growth, strengthens security, and follows conservative, free market principles.”
He added: “The net zero target is driven not by optimism but by scientific reality; without it climate change impacts and costs will continue to worsen. Abandon the science and voters will start to doubt the Conservative Party ’s seriousness on the clean energy transition, damaging both growth and the fight against climate change.”
In her speech, Ms Badenoch will launch a “policy renewal” process for the party, starting with energy and net zero. She is expected to 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.
“I say it because 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.”
She will say the Tories are going to “deal with the reality”. “We have to do better than this. And that’s why, today as part of our policy renewal, we are going to do something that Labour failed to do when in opposition – and explains why they are floundering so badly now. We are going to deal with the reality. Answer the real questions. Confront the real problems. And we start today on energy and net zero.”
In 2023, Rishi Sunak watered down key climate commitments, throwing the UK’s target to achieve net zero by 2050 into chaos. Among the announcements, he delayed a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years.