In light of some of the potential candidates for the Conservative leadership’s ambiguity over the government’s net zero goal, Britain’s climate minister has threatened to resign. Last year, he led an emotionally charged UN summit to a deal.
Four of the five remaining candidates to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson have questioned the legally-enshrined aim of achieving net carbon emissions by 2050, citing the costs when Britain is dealing with a crisis of cost of living.
With Sunday night’s second TV debate, only former finance minister Rishi Sunak has said he will keep to the aim and use “green levies” to help pay for it.
It’s a “leadership issue,” COP26 president Alok Sharma told the Observer on Sunday, as Britain and Europe confront a record-breaking heatwave.
“Anyone hoping to lead our country needs to demonstrate that they take this issue really seriously, that they’re willing to continue to lead and take up the mantle that Boris Johnson began off,” the environment minister said, according CNN.
The question of whether Sharma could retire if his rivals failed to meet net zero was asked, and he said: “So, what do you think? I believe it’s imperative that we assess the contenders’ current positions. Also, it will be interesting to observe who occupies the coveted No. 10 (Downing Street) position.”
After two weeks of rigorous deliberations, nearly 200 countries agreed to step up the fight against rising temperatures under Sharma’s leadership in Glasgow in November of last year.
As Sharma lowered the gavel, he was forced to apologize and cry as India and China weakened the language of the final document to keep high-polluting coal.
To put it another way, former junior minister Kemi Badenoch says net zero amounts to “unilateral economic disarmament” by the United Kingdom.
It is time for a new look at the green taxes introduced by Sunak as finance minister. Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt have both called for this.
The former Tory leader and Truss supporter Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News that he was “sad” Sharma felt that way when asked about Sharma’s threat.
“We have to just put that slightly on the back burner while we make sure people don’t suffer” from rising inflation, said Truss, who still supports the notion of net zero.