The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has said he is ‘determined’ that the UK achieves its 2050 net zero target.
In his strongest comments on the issue since becoming PM, Burnham affirmed his commitment to ensuring the UK achieves net zero emissions by 2050, which has been rejected as a target by the Conservatives and Reform UK.
Writing for the Guardian, Burnham said: “I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach net zero by 2050.”
He continued that climate change is ‘not a distant threat’ and British people are ‘no longer insulated from the consequences’.
Burnham’s intervention comes as he is facing pressure over whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield and Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea.
A decision to approve the Jackdaw gasfield was delayed until after the high-profile Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, is Labour’s main challenger for the seat.
The comments also come after the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee recommended that the government should ditch the term ‘net zero’ as it has ‘become a lightning rod for opposition to climate action’.
Communication and behaviour change experts have spoken to Circular Online about net zero messaging mistakes.
Burnham’s commitment to achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero target draws a key dividing line between Labour and both the Conservatives and Reform UK.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has said it is ‘impossible’ for the UK to meet the 2050 target, which was a goal set by a previous Conservative government.
Badenoch has also insisted that future Conservative candidates must agree to scrapping net zero policies.
Reform UK have committed to abandoning all net zero policies, claiming that the UK can instead protect its environment by planting more trees, increasing recycling, and using less single-use plastics instead.
Richard Tice, the party’s energy policy spokesman, has previously questioned whether humans can do anything to impact the Earth’s climate.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast last year, Tice said that achieving net zero will make ‘zero difference’ to climate change and that the ‘idea that you can stop the power of the sun or volcanoes is simply ludicrous’
The Reform website has also claimed that climate change would always occur even without man-made CO2 emissions and advocates that society should adapt to warming rather than ‘pretend’ it is possible to stop climate change.