Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on Net Zero

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 20 September 2023.

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.