Highlights

• Kemi Badenoch says the Climate Change Act 2008 will be replaced with cheap and reliable energy.
• Environmental groups, Labour, and senior Conservatives, who warn of imminent economic and environmental risks, have criticised the proposal.
• The debate marks a shift in political consensus on net zero targets in the UK.

The Conservative Party has announced plans to scrap the UK’s Climate Change Act 2008 if it wins the next election.

This law made carbon reduction targets legally binding and required the UK to cut emissions by 80% by 2050.

In 2019, under Theresa May’s premiership, the target was updated to net zero by 2050, meaning the UK must reduce emissions to the point where it removes as much as it releases. The law also created the Climate Change Committee, which advises the government and monitors progress.

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Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said her party aims to replace the legislation with a new strategy centred on cheap and reliable energy.

She said that Labour’s laws had increased costs, created red tape, and failed to make a difference to global emissions, and also opined that the new approach would involve maximising oil and gas extraction from the North Sea and shifting attention to economic growth and affordable energy.

This announcement has drawn strong criticism from various quarters.

Environmental groups described the proposal as an act of “national self-harm”, while Labour called it “an economic disaster” and “a total betrayal of future generations”.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May described the plan as a retrograde step that breaks a long-standing consensus between political parties and scientists. She warned that stepping back from this agreement would be a serious mistake, as the science behind climate change remains unchanged.

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Ed Miliband, who was Energy Secretary when the law was introduced, said the policy had attracted tens of billions of pounds in investment for domestic energy projects since it passed with cross-party backing. According to him, abandoning the framework would harm the economy and damage business confidence.

The debate has exposed a growing divide in UK politics on net zero targets. Reform UK has also pledged to remove these targets, blaming them for rising energy bills and deindustrialisation.

The Conservatives say that the law has forced governments to make decisions that raise household costs and weaken the economy. As an example, they referred to fines on boiler manufacturers for failing to meet heat pump sales targets, which critics call a “boiler tax”.

Meanwhile, Labour has outlined plans to expand clean energy projects, claiming this will reduce household bills by up to £300 by 2030. However, energy costs remain high. The UK ranks fourth highest for domestic electricity prices among EU countries and the highest for industrial usage.

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Critics of the Tory plan caution that removing legally binding climate targets could undermine progress and give ministers freedom to pursue short-term political goals at the expense of environmental action.

Environmental groups, the Liberal Democrats, and prominent figures, including Lord Alok Sharma, have urged the government to stay put on its leadership on climate policy, and said that clean energy investment represents a major economic opportunity and a safeguard for future generations.

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Source: BBC