What the UK Election Means for Climate and Energy
Sunak vs Starmer: Is this the UK's climate election?
2024 is the year of elections, with voters in 64 countries representing 49% of the world's population going to the polls. Tomorrow, it’s the UK’s turn.
Ahead of the election, Cleaning Up hosts Michael Liebreich and Bryony Worthington sit down with Dr. Simon Evans of Carbon Brief to run through each party's manifesto, and what they say about UK climate and energy policy.
Parliament has largely been in agreement on climate policy over the past two decades, and the UK has become the leader in the G20 when it comes to cutting emissions. As recently as 2012, coal generated nearly 40% of the UK's electricity. Today, it is almost zero. And in September, Britain's last coal station will close for good. Renewables have flooded in to take coal's place: 2020 was the first year in the UK's history that renewables produced more electricity than fossil fuels, with 43% coming from wind — onshore and offshore — solar, hydro and bioenergy. In total, emissions have fallen 45% since 2000 and over 50% since the iconic date of 1990. This should be seen as a success story.
However, that consensus appears to be fraying, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party taking an increasingly skeptical view of climate action, awarding new oil and gas drilling licenses in the North Sea, and pushing back key dates on electric vehicle mandates. Labour has presented itself as the more climate friendly of the two main parties, yet has come under huge scrutiny since scrapping their flagship £28 billion a year climate pledge, with many doubting the party’s commitment to serious climate policy.
With Labour all but guaranteed to win a majority, how can the UK become an international leader on climate once more? How will their much vaunted GB Energy work? And can they fulfil their pledge to make UK electricity zero-carbon by 2030, just five years away?
Bryony and Michael put these questions and more to Dr Simon Evans, the deputy editor and senior policy editor at Carbon Brief, a UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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