Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sets out his new approach to Net Zero, which will ease the financial burden of reaching Net Zero by 2050 on families and businesses in Wealden and across the country
Under revised plans, the Government will:
- Move back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, so all sales of new cars from 2035 will be zero emissions. This will enable families to wait to take advantage of falling prices over the coming decade if they wish to.
- Delay the ban on installing oil and LPG boilers, and new coal heating, for off-gas-grid homes to 2035, instead of phasing them out from 2026. Many of these homes are not suitable for heat pumps, so this ensures homeowners are not having to spend around £10,000-£15,000 on upgrading their homes in just three years’ time.
- Set an exemption to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives will not have to do so. This is expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid homes – those that will need expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection.
- Scrap policies to force landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, but instead continue to encourage households to do so where they can.
- Raise the Boiler Upgrade Grant by 50 per cent to £7,500 to help households who want to replace their gas boilers with a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump.
- Rule out policy ideas that would require people to share cars, eat less meat and dairy, be taxed to discourage their flying, or have seven bins to hit recycling targets – removing worrying proposals that would interfere in the way people live their lives.
The Prime Minister said:
I’m absolutely committed to reaching Net Zero by 2050.
But no one in politics has had the courage to look people in the eye and explain what that involves.
That’s wrong - and it changes now.
We’re changing our approach to meeting Net Zero to ease the burden on working people.
So what does that mean for you?
Removing unnecessary and heavy-handed measures
The debate about how we get to Net Zero has thrown up a range of worrying proposals and I want to confirm that under this government, they’ll never happen.
I’m scrapping the proposal for government to interfere in how many passengers you can have in your car and the idea that we should force you to have 7 different bins in your home.
I’m also scrapping the proposal to make you change your diet – and harm British farmers - by taxing meat.
And the proposal to create new taxes to discourage flying- I’ve scrapped that too.
We will never impose these unnecessary and heavy-handed measures on you, the British people, but we will still meet our international commitments and hit Net Zero by 2050.
Extending deadlines to transition to clean energy
We know the upfront costs for families are still high - so to give us more time to prepare, we’re easing the transition to electric vehicles on our roads and heat pumps in our homes.
That means you’ll still be able to buy new petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035, in line with countries like Germany and France.
It also means we’ll never force anyone to rip out their old boiler for an expensive heat pump, which for a family living in a terraced house in Darlington, could cost up to £10,000.
How can we afford to make these changes
This country is proud to be a world leader in reaching Net Zero by 2050.
Because of the progress we have already made, the UK’s share of global emissions is now less than 1%.
In fact we are a world leader in cutting emissions, surpassing the targets most countries have set for 2030 including Australia, Canada, Japan and the US.
We have overdelivered on all our previous targets to date.
Given this progress, reaching our targets does not need to come unnecessarily at the expense of people facing higher costs – and that’s why today we can ease the burden on working families.
We will continue to meet our international agreements, including the critical promises in Paris and Glasgow to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, but our new approach to Net Zero is:
- Pragmatic, proportionate and realistic
- Accountable to the British public
- Meet our Net Zero commitment
- Supporting British families
In a democracy, that’s the only realistic path to Net Zero.
Consent, not imposition.
Honesty, not obfuscation.
Pragmatism, not ideology.
That’s how we’ll turn the challenge of Net Zero into the greatest opportunity - and the proudest achievement - of our lifetimes.
The Prime Minister's speech as delivered on Wednesday 20 September is available to watch here and the full transcript is available here.
