The UK government is considering relaxing some net zero targets to ease the cost of living, according to the Energy Secretary. This could include watering down rules on electric car sales, potentially allowing up to half of new cars sold by 2030 to still have petrol engines.
Affordability takes priority
In an interview with the Times, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh indicated that the commitment to clean power, originally made by her predecessor Ed Miliband, would need to take affordability into account. She suggested the goal of almost eliminating fossil fuels from Britain's power supplies by 2030 might be delayed by one or two years if it would reduce costs for consumers.
Labour had previously pledged to decarbonise the power grid by 95% by the end of this decade, mainly through building more wind and solar farms. When asked if her priority was to meet the commitment even if bills rose, Ms Fahnbulleh said: “In the end, my job is to do the transition in a way that works for people’s pockets.”
Keeping public support
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.”
She also 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.”
EV sales rules under review
Reports suggest ministers are looking to water down rules on electric car sales, which currently require 80% of new cars sold to be zero emission by the end of the decade. A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to the 2030 phase out date for new petrol and diesel cars.”
The spokesperson added: “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.”
