Kemi Badenoch has vowed to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Conservatives win the next election, doing away with controls on greenhouse gas emissions and dismantling what has been the cornerstone of green and energy policy for successive governments.
The Conservative party leader was already committed to scrapping the UK’s net zero target but repeal of the Climate Change Act would go much further. It would remove the need to meet “carbon budgets” – ceilings, set for five-year periods, on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted – and disband the Climate Change Committee, the watchdog that advises on how policies affect the UK’s carbon footprint.
Badenoch said: “Under my leadership we will scrap those failed targets. Our priority now is growth, cheaper energy, and protecting the natural landscapes we all love.”
Under the landmark legislation, which was passed with the almost unanimous support of the Conservative party under David Cameron in 2008, carbon budgets are set for many years beyond the current government’s remit. This in effect binds future governments to adhering to climate policies, though it does not specify what those policies should be.
Badenoch claimed she would replace the act with “an energy strategy that puts cheap and reliable energy as the foundation for economic growth first”.
But scientists and experts pointed out that reliance on fossil fuels had caused the energy price spikes of the last few years, when Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring, at a cost of £140bn to the whole country. The surge in international prices, which made an unprecedented bonanza for energy companies, forced the last Tory government to subsidise energy bills with £40bn in public money – spending that has, in turn, helped to tie the hands of Labour’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, who faces much higher costs of borrowing.
Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute, at the London School of Economics, said: “The claim that keeping Britain dependent on fossil fuels is good for economic growth is demonstrably false. Our dependence on fossil fuels causes high prices for electricity and heating for businesses and households. We are experiencing growing costs from the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and more intense and frequent extreme weather events.
“The only pro-growth strategy is to invest in domestic clean energy. It is clear that the Conservatives cannot now be trusted on the environment or the economy.”
Michael Grubb, professor of energy at University College London, added: “The striking fact is how few UK businesses support scrapping the Climate Change Act. The reason is simple. Business knows that climate change is a real and pressing problem; that the future lies in low carbon energy and related innovation; and business values clarity and certainty within a firm legal framework.
“Scrapping a far-sighted act, that was passed with huge bipartisan consensus, opposes all those realities.”
The UK is one of the most successful countries in the world in reducing carbon, halving emissions since 1990, amid a surge in renewable energy generation.
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James Alexander, chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, which represents financial institutions with £19 trillion in assets, said: “The green economy is the second-fastest growing sector globally [behind only the technology sector]. We cannot afford to dismantle this landmark law. The Climate Change Act mandate gives investors the confidence to back the UK’s green economy. Conservative calls to rip up this signature legislation sends damaging signals to markets, jeopardising jobs, growth and our long-term energy security.”
Badenoch’s announcement, before the start of the Conservative party conference this weekend, brings the destruction of the three-decade long consensus on the climate among the UK’s major political parties, under which all have campaigned on strengthening climate action rather than weakening it.
Yet polls continue to show that most people in the UK are in favour of climate action, including those planning to vote for Reform UK, which has also vowed to abandon the net zero target, and whose leaders have – like US president Donald Trump – denied climate science.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: “This desperate policy from Kemi Badenoch, if ever implemented, would be an economic disaster and a total betrayal of future generations. The Conservatives would now scrap a framework that businesses campaigned for in the first place and has ensured tens of billions of pounds of investment in homegrown British energy since it was passed by a Labour government with Conservative support 17 years ago.
“The Conservatives’ anti-jobs, anti worker, anti young people lurch would undermine our energy security and damage our society.”
