Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has indicated that Labour's government could water down some net zero targets to ease the cost of living, suggesting that Ed Miliband's pledge on clean power transition would need to take affordability into account.
Affordability concerns
In an interview with The Times, Fahnbulleh appeared to suggest the government may relax the promise to almost eliminate fossil fuels from Britain's power supplies by 2030 if it risked higher household bills. Labour previously pledged to decarbonise the power grid by 95% by the end of this decade, mainly through building more wind and solar farms.
Asked if her priority was to meet the commitment even if bills were to rise, Fahnbulleh said: "In the end, my job is to do the transition in a way that works for people's pockets." She added: "Candidly, my job is to keep people with us. So 81% of the public believe that renewables are a good thing and support it. I need to keep that number. And the way I do that is to say to people, we are doing the hard trade-offs to make sure that we are doing this transition in a way that still delivers affordability."
Possible delay
She reportedly suggested that Miliband's clean power pledge, which has been labelled "Net Stupid Zero lunacy" by Reform UK's Richard Tice, could be delayed by one or two years if it resulted in reduced costs for consumers. She told the paper: "We need to keep momentum (towards clean power). But we've also got to do it in a way that works for people. And that is about affordability."
Reports have also suggested ministers are looking to water down rules on electric car sales, which could mean up to half of the new cars sold would still have petrol engines by 2030. Under current rules, 80% of new cars sold must be zero-emission by the end of the decade.
Government response
A Government spokesperson said: "We are committed to the 2030 phase out date for new petrol and diesel cars. It's never been easier or cheaper to own an EV. The ZEV Mandate is backed by £7.5 billion to grow the market, boost EV manufacturing, increase sales and build up the UK charging network. EV sales have surged almost 45% compared with July last year, and we've helped over 150,000 drivers to buy through our Electric Car Grant, boosting sales whilst putting money back in people's pockets. We've always said we'll review the mandate to support British industry and investment. Further details will be published in due course."
