Badenoch says ‘get real’ on net zero and declares 2050 target ‘impossible’
She has tasked shadow ministers with looking at solutions for delivering cheap and clean energy.
Kemi Badenoch said she will task shadow ministers with finding “achievable solutions” to delivering cheap, clean energy after declaring that reaching net zero by 2050 is “impossible”.
The Conservative leader said it was time to “get real” about the target during a speech to launch the party’s policy renewal process in London.
“Why is it 2050 in the first place? No-one knows,” she said.
The party may later come up with its own target if “subject matter experts” decide that one is necessary, she said.
“I haven’t changed my mind. What you are describing is collective responsibility,” she said.
She has tasked shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho, with help from shadow Scotland secretary and energy minister Andrew Bowie to look at solutions for delivering cheap and clean energy.
“I am tasking her team with finding and working with the people who know the truth and who can come up with achievable solutions, people who can answer from experience, how we can deliver cheap and clean energy without bankrupting businesses, without eye-watering bills for households, without dependencies on hostile or unstable countries.
“Labour may or may not be interested in these questions, but we are.”
She added: “Someone has to save these noble objectives from the zealots who have hijacked this agenda.”
She called herself a “net zero sceptic” because of overreliance on China and unreliable targets.
“I don’t say that with pleasure. I want a better future and a better environment for our children, but we have to get real.”
Mrs Badenoch said there would be “more in the weeks ahead” as “the academics, experts, business people, members from all walks of life” will help the party “get to the root cause of our country’s problems”.
A Green Tory group called the policy review a “crucial opportunity to build a credible, election-winning platform on climate change” but said it was a mistake to decide the 2050 target is not possible at this stage.
“It is a mistake to have pre-empted the policy review by deciding that net zero by 2050 isn’t achievable.
“The target is based not on wishful thinking, but the scientific imperative of stopping the worsening impacts of climate change and preventing unaffordable costs.
“Ditching the target will undermine private enterprise and capital driving the energy transition and alienate voters worried about their children and grandchildren’s inheritance.”
Environmental group the WWF said Mrs Badenoch is “ignoring the evidence” that the net zero sector is growing faster than the overall economy.
Isabella O’Dowd, WWF’s head of climate policy said: “The UK is a world leader in rolling out renewable energy and in sustainable finance and businesses recognise that decarbonising our economy is the biggest business opportunity of the century.”
Dhara Vyas, chief executive of trade group Energy UK, said cutting emissions provides an economic boost and that the “volatile cost” of fossil fuels is what has driven up energy bills in recent years.
“Of course we need honest conversations about how we fund the costs in a way that is fair to households and businesses – and this also needs to include a consideration of the potential price of inaction,” she said.
