The shift was anticipated… British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday slowing down the pace of the ecological transition in the United Kingdom, by adopting a “more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic” approach to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. The press conference was hastily organized at Downing Street after its intentions were leaked to the media.
The most emblematic announcement concerns new cars running on petrol and diesel, which will now be banned from sale in 2035 and not in 2030. With this measure, the United Kingdom “aligns its approach” with the planned timetable in the European Union or in other countries, defended Rishi Sunak.
He also announced the relaxation of the conditions for the gradual elimination of gas boilers from 2035 and the abandonment of a measure on the energy efficiency of housing which provided for strong constraints on owners.
Give pledges to conservative voters?
The climate ambitions of the United Kingdom, which aims for carbon neutrality in 2050, thus seem to be paying the price for the purchasing power crisis affecting the British and its possible electoral repercussions for the Conservative Party. In power for thirteen years, he is now struggling in the polls against Labor, with a view to the legislative elections expected next year, and some within him have long been calling on the government to scale back on environmental matters.
At the end of July, Rishi Sunak had already caused an uproar by promising hundreds of new licenses for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the North Sea.
This new turnaround comes as the independent body responsible for advising Downing Street on its climate policies deplored in June the “worrying slowness” of the transition in the country, in particular to achieve the legally binding objectives for 2030.
Another bad signal: the failure of a recent call for tenders for offshore wind power, an energy source on which the country is banking heavily to decarbonize its energy.
“The biggest mistake of the mandate”
If this announcement delighted the right wing of the conservatives, without waiting for the Prime Minister’s speech, criticism multiplied, including in his own camp.
“We cannot afford to weaken now or in any way lose our ambition for this country,” said former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had set a 2030 target for the end of cars on the road. on gasoline and diesel.
This decision is “the biggest mistake” of Rishi Sunak’s mandate, lamented Chris Skidmore, a Conservative and former Secretary of State for Energy. “I really don’t believe that it could help any party electorally to decide to take this route,” said Conservative MP Alok Sharma and president of COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.
Opposition Labor Party MP in charge of energy issues Ed Miliband mocked a “farce” of a government “which literally does not know what it is doing from day to day”.
The automotive sector denounces “confusion” and “uncertainty”
The economic community has also stepped up to the plate. The Association of Motor Manufacturers and Dealers (SMMT) denounced “the confusion” and “uncertainty” generated by this decision, while the public authorities largely support and subsidize the installation of electric battery factories in the country. “Under the Conservative government, Great Britain has gone from being a leader to being a laggard on climate change,” said the NGO Greenpeace, predicting the acceleration of the “decline” of the country’s influence on climate change. international scene.
Sunak’s government appears to have begun a U-turn on climate policy in July, after Labour’s surprise defeat by the Conservatives in a west London local election. This result was put down to voters’ distrust of the extension of a tax on polluting vehicles to the whole of Greater London, or nine million inhabitants, and wanted by Labor mayor Sadiq Khan.