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Sunak promises ‘more proportionate’ approach to net zero after reports key housing targets will be ditched
Rishi Sunak said he would achieve net zero in a “more proportionate way” after reports that key targets on heat pumps and home energy efficiency will be ditched.
Responding last night to a BBC report that he was considering weakening UK green policies, the prime minister said the government remained “committed to net zero by 2050 and the agreements we have made internationally – but doing so in a better, more proportionate way”.
The BBC reported that Mr Sunak was considering delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, as well as the plan to phase out gas boilers.
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The government had set a target of 600,000 heat-pump installations a year by 2028 and proposed a ban on the sale of gas boilers by 2035.
The plan to ban gas boilers in new builds by 2035 first emerged in 2020, and it was one of the major pledges in the government’s long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy in 2021.
The BBC also reported that the prime minister planned to tell homeowners and landlords there would be no new energy-efficiency regulations for homes.
Ministers had been considering imposing fines on private landlords who fail to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency. The social housing sector is working to upgrade all its stock to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2030.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Mr Sunak said: “I know people are frustrated with politics and want real change.
“Our political system rewards short-term decision-making that is holding our country back.
“For too many years, politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out, saying we can have it all.
“This realism doesn’t mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it.
“I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change.”
He said he would be “giving a speech this week to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children”.
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