UK climate minister: We need to re-make the case for net zero

A.Amidst U-turns and Keir Starmer’s personal approval ratings, it is easy to forget that Labor was elected in 2024 on an optimistic platform. Less than two years later, manifest Promises to “stop the chaos” and “grow our economy” are proving difficult to deliver.

But there is one area where the government is performing well.

The UK’s target of reaching net zero by 2050 is “achievable provided the government stays on track”, according to a report. 2025 progress report From the Committee on Climate Change, the public body whose remit is to advise the government on its progress in meeting legally binding climate targets. This is not just driven by the energy sector, with the rise in wind power and the UK’s last coal-fired power station. Closes in 2024 – but also through heat pumps and electric vehicles that decarbonise heating and transport: areas where going green is thought to be much more demanding.

Labor government’s high-profile target Clean electricity system by 2030, commonly was mocked Climate Minister Katie White, when I met her for her first sitting in parliament, said she was on the right track, including by many on the right at the time.

“It was gifted to us Chris Stark“He is an excellent mission leader in this regard,” he says. “He constantly monitors what is happening. And if something isn’t happening the right way, he dives in and tries to fix the problem. “I have a lot of confidence in him and he has a lot of confidence that we can achieve this.”

Smiling and fast-talking, with a big mane of curly blond hair and an easy-going sense of humour, something of the 2024-era Labor optimism whose rise was rapid after being first elected in the Labor landslide two years ago seems to live on in White.

A minute after meeting in a stuffy, wood-paneled Parliamentary meeting room, White pulls out a plastic container of curry that some primary school children have handed him. “Following a campaign among school children, the school now makes chickpea korma instead of chicken korma, which I think is great,” he exclaims.

Working under Cabinet Secretary Ed Milliband, White’s broad briefing covers everything from international climate finance and net zero strategy to citizen engagement on green issues. The ministerial role follows two decades of work on climate, including campaigns with Friends of the Earth for the UK’s Climate Change Act in the 2000s and most recently as director of advocacy at the wildlife charity WWF.

But for all White’s personal enthusiasm, there is no denying the massive shift away from net zero in the mainstream in recent years.

What perhaps started with Rishi Sunak watering down green policies on boilers and cars in 2023 has snowballed into both Conservative and Reform external calls for net zero to be scrapped, making its debut in UK press editorials. You’re more likely to disagree We support climate action.

The intermittent availability of solar and wind is actually blamed for the power outage in the Iberian peninsula last year. Climate misinformation is now rampant. poor network management. Just this weekend, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote He said Britain’s response to Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz was to prioritize the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea. 90 percent of fossil fuels Britain’s share of the basin has already been mined.

What does the Climate Minister think we need to do to counter the rising tide of climate skepticism?

“First of all, from the conversations I’ve had, I would say there’s still a lot of support for our transition to low carbon,” he says. “When I campaign Climate Change Act In 2008 there were the Conservatives, CBI [Confederation of British Industry]and the Conservatives support us. “What I can say is that there are still a lot of Conservatives, CBI and Church who support us.”

Climate action also remains hugely popular with the British public; A recent study shows that: 64 percent of people We will continue to support net-zero emissions by 2050, compared to 29 percent who do not support it. “Any political party would bite your hand off to get votes this good,” White says.

White adds that many people on the right who have started speaking out against net zero are just “making a stand.” “People love Gavin Barwell And Theresa May “They came straight in and said, ‘This is ridiculous,'” he says. “And I think when you get down to the details of what’s going on, it’s clear that we’re heading in the most logical direction.”

White also acknowledges that there has been a “crack” in the consensus caused by “some unhelpful interference”. This needs to be addressed now.

“We need to make sure we make the case for climate action,” he says. “I’ve been in this business for over 20 years and we can’t expect the current generation to hear the same case that was made 20 years ago.”

How we do this involves reminding people of everything that is at stake if we choose not to act.

“I was with Caribbean leaders yesterday and they were talking about how they were considering creating a new category of hurricanes because they get too busy” says White. “But also here in the UK the Met Office has said that all the rain we’ve had recently has been partly due to rain. 10 percent more rain In our clouds due to climate change. What this all means – even newer our holes – too wide.”

But White believes there needs to be a much louder conversation about climate risks, as well as the economic opportunities brought by climate action. The economy grew by 80 per cent during the same period when UK emissions fell by 54 per cent; So any claim that decarbonization automatically inhibits growth is false, he says.

“Our low-carbon transition plan is to bring new industries to parts of the country that need opportunity and renewal,” he says. For example, new green economic opportunities in the Humber region, which include one of the world’s largest carbon capture projects, hydrogen production and low-carbon steel production, are bringing a new sense of “community pride” and a “sense of purpose”.

White also believes we need to shift the narrative away from “cost of net zero” rhetoric towards emphasizing the value of the energy transition.

“Costs are front and center of what I think about, especially given the cost-of-living concerns that so many people have,” he says. “But the problem is that we will have to invest in our energy system anyway. So should we invest in our current crumbling system that relies on expensive fossil fuels, or should we invest in low-cost renewables?”

The ongoing war in Iran has only strengthened the economic arguments for net zero, reminding us how harmful it is for our energy system to be dependent on volatile fossil fuel markets.

The Committee on Climate Change’s latest modeling, published earlier this month, found that a well-managed transition to net zero would add around four per cent to average household energy bills, while a single fossil fuel market shock like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 would add a 60 per cent increase in energy costs.

The same report reveals that net zero 2050 would cost around £4bn a year by 2050, taking into account efficiency improvements and a shift to renewable energy; This is a pittance compared to the 4 to 10 per cent reduction in UK GDP that would be lost if global warming reached around 4°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

White suggests the government needs to regain the confidence to share such issues and for the UK to speak proudly about climate action once again.

“I think sometimes we can be held back because of our tendency to think before we speak: ‘Oh my God, let’s make sure everything is absolutely perfect,'” she says. “And there may be a built-in reticence to shout because people don’t want to be shouted at.

“But net zero is good for the British economy, British security and the climate, and we absolutely need to start shouting about it again.”

Despite the UK’s clear strengths on net zero, there are still shortcomings. For example, on adaptation to climate change, the Climate Change Committee described The UK’s approach is “piecemeal and disjointed”. He adds that our National Cohesion Plan “falls short of the task of preparing the UK for the global crisis”. the climate change we are experiencing todaylet this happen in the future.”

It happened in England too was strongly criticized To reduce the amount of aid it provides to developing countries to combat climate change – something that must be done under the terms of the Agreement. Paris Agreement – when the climate needs of such countries increase rather than decrease.

White admits the decision to cut climate aid was disappointing on a personal level, but remains loyal to the government’s view that it is necessary given government funding constraints and the need to invest more in defence.

“Cutting the aid budget was a really difficult decision. As a government we face many difficult decisions and difficult times,” he says. “Within reduced aid allocations, there is still a lot of aid for climate, and I think our focus now should be on how we can deliver that most effectively.”

After all, White says, politics is “the art of the possible.” But even if compromises sometimes have to be made, this does not mean that the government’s commitment to the climate issue is in any way in doubt.

“I am incredibly ambitious for the UK and the world to solve this crisis, and to do so in a way that regenerates and renews us,” he says. “It is a real privilege to be in a government that is so committed to this agenda and I want to continue to put everything into it.”

This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project