The UK also suffers from the polarization and political tensions that plague many other Western democracies. So far, however, there has been a cross-party consensus on the great cause of the 21st century: the fight against climate change. Out of electoral desperation, Rishi Sunak has clung to populism and given wings to the denialism of the far right by deciding to postpone the targets set by the British government years ago to curb global warming.
“Delaying action on climate change will cause global temperatures to rise,” warned Jim Skea, the UK chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), days after the results were announced. Sunak ads. The IPCC, the most respected body in analyzing the warming challenge, makes it a rule never to comment on or criticize the individual decisions of countries. However, for a good understanding, the aim of Skea’s criticism was clear: “What determines global warming is not the date chosen as the target for achieving zero emissions, but the path to get there.” The main factor is the accumulation of carbon dioxide emissions over time (…) The longer the measures are delayed, the larger this accumulation becomes and the greater the danger. This is the global key,” summarized the professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London.
On September 27, 1988, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned a packed audience at the Royal Society, the prestigious scientific institute, that the world was “creating a global warming trap that would lead to climate instability.” He vowed to take action to to stop this development and promote “stable prosperity”.
It is true that much of the progress in reducing emissions had to do with the almost complete dismantling of Britain’s coal industry – the result of Thatcher’s ruthless war with the unions – and a country focused on services and pollution Industry eliminated Globalization had relocated to other places in the world. But today the amount of gas the UK emits into the atmosphere has fallen by 47% compared to levels in the 1990s; In 2008, it was the first country to introduce an emissions quota (CO2 budget); in 2019, the first company to commit to the goal of zero emissions by 2050; Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has set a deadline for banning the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in 2040; Boris Johnson’s government lowered this date to 2035 and later to 2030; The UK reaffirmed its environmental leadership at the COP 26 summit in Glasgow. A common struggle that united conservatives and workers.
Until Sunak’s drastic change came.
The populist discourse
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Almost 35 years after his political role model and inspiration – Thatcher – led the way, Sunak hit the brakes, angering politicians on both sides, scientists, activists and even big business. The Prime Minister announced the postponement of the ban on the sale of new petrol or diesel vehicles by five years from 2030 to 2035, coupled with a guarantee that the same vehicles could be bought on the used market for many more years. .
The UK government has also extended the obligation to replace gas heating in homes with heat pumps until 2035. And from that point on, it was definitely mandatory to require this installation only in those houses where a heating change was required.
To round off the speech, days later Sunak announced the renewal of annual licenses for the exploitation of new gas and oil wells in the North Sea. The pretext: strengthening Britain’s energy security. Although experts have been quick to point out that the production of this region barely covers the country’s needs for a few days and, moreover, it is a crude oil whose refining price is exorbitant.
Big industry attacked decisions that jeopardized its long-term projects. “The delay in the deadline for banning new petrol and diesel vehicles – a date that the government itself defined as immobile until a few months ago – creates the classic political uncertainty that deters business investment and undermines the UK’s chances of launching new projects green economy,” said Esin Serin, analyst and researcher at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environmental Studies and the London School of Economics.
All polls suggest that the Labor Party, which they give a lead of more than twenty percentage points over the Conservatives, will emerge victorious in the next general election, which is due to take place in a year at the latest. With a party subject to constant nervousness and internal turmoil, Sunak has decided to turn a blind eye to the Tories’ hardest wing.
In response to the environmental policies of many British cities and towns – low emission zones, speed limits, etc. – a denial and reactionary citizens’ movement has emerged in recent years, fomenting conspiracy theories and street revolts. The latest and strongest upset occurred in Oxford, whose city council had signed up to the 15-minute cities initiative: the time it takes to reach services and shops on foot or by bike.
“We want to ensure that all these arbitrary plans being imposed on various communities come to an end. “It is a relentless attack on drivers and shows the ignorance of many MPs that the majority of citizens in this country rely on their cars every day,” Sunak said recently. His political strategy appears to be to side with citizens against progressive elites who have declared “war on drivers.”
Polls, such as the one recently published by The Guardian newspaper, show that only 22% of citizens support and trust Sunak’s climate policies. Most view his latest decision as a new turning point in Conservative policy.
The King’s Speech
The British, regardless of their monarchical or republican leanings, have discovered in Charles III, a pioneer of environmental protection for decades, a symbol of their global leadership in this cause. For many of them, it was depressing to see the king, beholden to parliamentary tradition, solemnly announce before the British Parliament the legislative plans for the coming year of “Her Majesty’s Government”, which envisaged more oil wells and a slowdown in the advance of climate change. He was the same person who shone at COP-26 in Glasgow in 2021 – then still crown prince – when the International Energy Agency, at the insistence of the British government, wanted to warn the rest of the world that it would be impossible to stop global warming if oil production increases.
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