On Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a raft of changes to our country's approach to Net Zero, ensuring that the British people will not carry a costly burden in order to reach our green targets.
While remaining committed to reaching Net Zero by 2050, the government are removing unnecessary and heavy-handed measures, scrapping proposals including:
- Passenger limits in your car
- Forcing you to have 7 different bins in your home
- Taxing farmers and meat consumption
- New taxes to discourage flying
There have also been extensions to the deadlines for clean energy transition. Since the upfront costs for families are still high, the government are:
- Easing the transition to electric vehicles on our roads and heat pumps in our homes, meaning you’ll still be able to buy new petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035.
- No longer a requirement for anyone to rip out their old boiler to install an expensive heat pump.
The UK has made great progress in reducing its carbon footprint; we’ve had the fastest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the G7, down almost 50% since 1990. As a nation, we now make up less than 1% of global emissions. We have overdelivered on all our previous targets to date, and, given this progress, reaching our targets does not need to come unnecessarily at the expense of people facing higher costs – and that’s why we can ease the burden on working families.
I now want to hear your views on the government's new approach to Net Zero below.