Former bank of England governor Mark Carney has accused the prime minister of watering down Britain’s net zero pledges with delays.
At a Policy Institute event, attended by The Telegraph newspaper, the former Bank of England governor said Britain had been “forging a consensus around net zero” but said the government had “fallen back a bit”.
The UN special envoy on climate action also said the decisions were “disappointing and mistaken”.
He added that new licenses for oil and gas rigs could be called into question “from an economic perspective, let alone an environmental one”, adding that the rigs could lead to “stranded assets”.
It comes after the Pime Minister announced he was pushing back the 2030 ban on the sales of new vehicles until 2030, and that he was easing the heat pump transition and announced that there would be no new taxes to discourage flying.
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He was criticised by vehicle manufacturers including Ford UK as well as Be.EV CEO Asif Ghafoor who said the government’s “internal squabbles and indecisiveness have created a total loss of faith in any new measures or goals they announce.”
The prime minister’s decisions to expand oil and gas last month were also described as “monumentally irresponsible”, with Greenpeace activists responding by placing a black fabric banner reading “Rishi Sunak – oil profits or our future?” over his Northallerton mansion.
Polling from Opinium suggested that around nine in 10 voters who intend to switch from Labour to Conservative at the next election suggest that “green growth” is important for the next election.