Rishi Sunak’s New Approach to reach Net Zero
Rishi Sunak’s speech on Climate Change and Net Zero this week caused shock waves amongst those who had expected the UK to be on track with the Green Initiatives by 2030.
The Prime Minster made his announcement by saying that “ I know they (us) watch the news or read the papers and wonder why in the face of the facts as they have them, choices are made as they are. I know that they (us) dislike Westminster game playing, the short termism, and the lack of accountability. But most of all I think people are tired of the false choice between two versions of change that never go beyond a slogan.”
With this preamble, he was preparing us for a significant U turn on the plans that had been put in place by his predecessors. He said that the debate on climate change needs to be given more time, more clarity and a more realistic approach to ensuring that the UK meets their Net Zero targets. And he is not wrong.
The big shock was that the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, meaning a requirement for all new cars to be "zero emission" will not come into force until 2035. Car manufacturers and electric car owners were blind-sided by this announcement. But realistically, had the decision to aim for the 2030 deadline been too ambitious? It is a well known fact that many electric vehicle owners have faced challenges in navigating the transition from fuel propelled cars to those charged by electricity. They are often failed by their car because they cannot find charging points in the location where they should be easy to access. Break down recovery for electric vehicles has increased dramatically and causes significant inconvenience to the car owner.
Home Improvements and Climate Change
After many years of moving the goal posts in relation to EPC ratings changing or not, the Prime Minister announced that the Government will abandon plans to introduce mandatory energy efficiency targets for private landlords, which would require all newly let properties to have an EPC rating of C by 2025 and all private rented sector homes to reach the grade by 2028. These plans which would see landlords pay up to £10,000 per property for energy efficiency improvements may now allow landlords to breathe a sigh of relief.
It also looked likely that homeowners would be required to do so by 2035, which would ultimately have had knock-on implications for the ease of obtaining mortgages. This, too, has been removed.
The Prime Minister also announced a delay to the ban on gas boilers. The target was for no gas boilers to be installed in new homes by 2025 and for heat pumps to replace them.
But the Prime Minister told a press conference that households will only have to make the switch when the boiler is being changed and this would come into force in 2035.
Heat pumps, he said, needed to be made cheaper without imposing high costs on families at a time while technology is still expensive.
For more information on the Prime Minister’s speech - see his new approach to Net Zero.