We can’t let culture war push us off track to net zero

The Prime Minister has decisively thrown off his ​“steady as we go” approach and injected chaos into the UK’s net zero plans.

The so-called ​“new approach” to net zero announced before the Conservative Party conference included a five-year delay to the 2030 ban of new petrol and diesel cars and a delay to phasing out gas boilers. Plans requiring landlords to meet new energy efficiency regulations were also shelved. On the upside, Sunak increased the heat pump subsidy grant from £5k to £7.5k

Climate alarm bells are ringing around the globe, yet it seems the Conservative Party has positioned itself as the main block to the UK meeting its green promises. As the party orchestrates a culture war on net zero, the barriers are both practical (delays will make hitting our 2050 target harder) and social, as divisions among the public threaten to close the door on new policy ideas.

We know from our own focus group work with the public that cynicism is our biggest enemy and that the more worried people are, the more insular and inward looking they become. Another appalling message was sent by last week’s approval of the Rosebank oil field.

But truthfully, there is real momentum towards net zero. First up, we need to get the communication right. 

We need to start putting the carrot before the stick. This year, every resident of Austria and Switzerland, and most residents of Canada will receive a ​‘climate bonus’, worth between £60 and £400.

Changes to what and how we consume are going to be required, but those changes will bring a range of benefits and we need to talk them up. It falls on all of us, across civil society, media and politics to highlight the benefits.

We need to start putting the carrot before the stick. This year, every resident of Austria and Switzerland, and most residents of Canada will receive a ​‘climate bonus’, worth between £60 and £400. Spaniards are enjoying most forms of public transport for free, or heavily discounted, and residents of Germany can catch a local bus or travel on a train for as little as £1.50 a day. Globally, governments are implementing policies framed with a ​‘climate dividend’– before the toughest elements of decarbonising the economy hit the headlines.

A common refrain in our focus group work was that people felt they needed to see the benefits of net zero. But in the UK, what limited climate policy we do have, is often framed as pain for very little gain. For example, the UK’s Emissions Trading Scheme, which taxes a variety of industries for the carbon they produce, has raised over £6bn, yet there has been no effort to (visibly) recycle that income back into social goods. Recent polling shows support is high for adopting key climate-saving lifestyle changes and climbs higher still when government gets the incentives right.

When it comes to designing those incentives, it’s time to go universal. If there is one lesson from the last four years it’s this. The over-targeting of pandemic and cost-of-living support saddled the state with vast amounts of admin, only to end up with unlucky millions who missed out on furlough, or on energy bills support.

Offering universal protections through essential public services such as water, energy, transport, and health would go a long way to reassuring communities that there’s something in this for everyone. It is with this in mind that NEF has promoted our National Energy Guarantee, which puts a safety net around the essential energy needs of every household.

NEF’s proposed frequent flyer levy is designed to hit the excesses of the few, without harming ordinary families that want to enjoy a holiday abroad. For this reason, it is overwhelmingly popular with the public.

Policy design needs equity front and centre. Many will rightly ask why they should shoulder the cost of a new electric car or a heat pump while private jets fill our skies and Shell make record fossil-fuelled profits. These optics matter, so if a policy can have equity visibly baked in, all the better. The windfall tax does this (though the policy has some design flaws) but NEF’s proposed frequent flyer levy does it better. It is designed to hit the excesses of the few, without harming ordinary families that want to enjoy a holiday abroad. For this reason, it is overwhelmingly popular with the public.

Finally, and this speaks partly to economics and partly to communication, it is time to go big or go home. We need a sense of common purpose and collective mission, a reminder that, when we come together and put our minds to it, there’s nothing that we can’t do. In the US the Inflation Reduction Act, while imperfect, sent a signal that President Biden is serious about tackling the climate crisis to the benefit ordinary people. Its scale means that a large proportion of the population will see some action in their own area, driving buy-in and understanding. Of course, it requires resources too, such as a government that is willing to borrow for investment and raise taxes on those with the biggest wealth and environmental footprint.

It’s easy to hear the words of our Prime Minister and despair. But fatalism is our biggest enemy. We must meet that fatalism on our own terms, reject cynicism and double down on hope.

Image: iStock