At the risk of casting doubt on the real climate ambitions of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to act in a “pragmatic and proportionate” manner against global warming, supporting new fossil energy projects and posing motorists advocate.
The statements in the Sunday Telegraph, published on Sunday, come as both the Tory majority and the Labor opposition question green policies because of their cost to the public in the midst of the UK’s cost of living crisis. .
The leader says he feels the “responsibility” to act for the environment: “But I will do it in a pragmatic and proportionate way without necessarily creating new costs or disrupting people’s lives, especially at a time when families are already facing higher inflation than we would like”.
He insists on the difference between the energy policy of the Conservative Party, in power for 13 years in the United Kingdom, and Labour, well ahead in the polls one year from the next legislative elections.
“I think it makes absolutely no sense, as Labor suggests, to ban oil and gas from the North Sea,” Mr Sunak insisted, confirming his majority position.
“It will only weaken our energy security and strengthen dictators like (Russian) President Vladimir Putin,” he pleads, saying it would jeopardize 200,000 jobs and threaten nearly 100 billion euros in tax revenue. .
According to the Sunday Times, the leader will travel to Scotland on Monday to announce a massive carbon capture project, which is supposed to help achieve the goal of neutrality by 2050. Some conservationists are concerned, however, that such technologies serve as an excuse to continue the exploitation and consumption of fossil fuels rather than trying to get rid of them.
“Everyone reasonably recognizes that we will need these fossil fuels as part of the transition to zero”, slice Rishi Sunak in the Sunday Telegraph, ensuring that to do without them risked “the extinction of lights” in the UK.
Green politics seem to be in the hot seat in the UK since Labour’s surprise defeat by the Conservatives in a local West London election. This result – with less than 500 votes – was put down to the mistrust of voters in the face of the extension planned at the end of August of a tax on polluting vehicles to the whole of Greater London, i.e. nine million inhabitants, and wanted by the Labor mayor Sadiq Khan.
Since then, the government has hinted that certain environmental objectives could be relaxed, notably on energy standards for housing.
Rishi Sunak, criticized for regularly using helicopters for his trips, seems to want to take up the subject, qualifying Labor on Sunday as “anti-motorist” and saying he is “on the side” of households who need their car.
He said he wanted to question the zones put in place, particularly in London where car traffic is very restricted, to the chagrin of some motorists.
Labor, refocused in recent years, also seems to be worried and has recently reduced the ambition of its green energy investment plan in its program.
According to a YouGov poll last spring, 65% of Britons say they are worried about the consequences of climate change, but the majority oppose most measures that would require personal effort.
Ex-Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair this week called for public sparing because “what we’re doing in the UK doesn’t really have an effect on global warming” on a global scale.
The UK is feeling the effects anyway, with a report from the meteorological services warning this week that record high temperatures in the summer of 2022, surpassing 40 degrees Celsius, will look ‘cool’ by the end of the century .
“We will not sit idly by while politicians use the environment as a political soccer ball. It is courage and leadership that we need now,” warned in a letter sent to Rishi Sunak, leaders several associations, such as WWF, the National Trust or Greenpeace.
30/07/2023 11:32:12 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
