"I'm proud of the achievements we've made in Government such as the world leading Environment Act and the significant progress we've made towards Net Zero. I'm clear that reaching our climate targets does not need to come unnecessarily at the expense of ordinary people facing higher costs."

Rebecca Harris

We have reduced emissions by 53% whilst growing the economy by 80% We boast five of the world’s largest windfarms, are backing new energy technologies such as new nuclear and are taking a practical approach to our energy supply, a clear plan to increase our energy sovereignty and keep bills down. 

We will continue to meet our international agreements, including the critical promises in Paris and Glasgow to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, but our new approach to Net Zero is:

• Pragmatic, proportionate and realistic
• Accountable to the British public
• Meet our Net Zero commitment
• Supporting British families

The Conservative Government's Ten Point Plan has mobilised £12 billion of government investment while laying the blueprint for a green industrial revolution.

Proud however that the UK has made progress to cut emissions faster than any other G7 country, with the UK having already slashed emissions by 50% between 1990 and 2022, compared to 41% in Germany, 23% in France, as well as surpassing the targets most countries have set for 2030. It is this over-delivery on reducing emissions that provides the space to take a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach to reaching net zero.

The Conservatives have made it clear that the plans to meet net zero will only succeed if public support is maintained. This includes: easing the transition to electric vehicles from 2030 to 2035; giving families far more time to transition to heat pumps while significantly increasing grants to upgrade boilers; scrapping onerous energy efficiency requirements and not forcing people to make alterations; a commitment to no rules on carpooling, seven different bins and more expensive meat; and greater support for new oil and gas in the North Sea.

The Conservative Government's Net Zero Strategy builds on the Ten Point Plan and sets out a clear path for the changes needed to secure our energy, creating jobs and new industries while ending the UK's contribution to climate change. The UK can rapidly cut carbon emissions, while creating new jobs, technologies and future-proof industries that will generate economic growth for decades to come. 

Labour’s policy to turn off the North Sea oil and gas industry – decimating 200,000 jobs, losing £4.5 billion in tax revenues and hiking up bills. 

On top of Labour’s £2,094 tax raid, their policy to abandon the North Sea oil and gas industry would mean families would have to pay more for their energy. Alongside higher bills, their policy would risk the loss of 200,000 jobs whilst abandoning £4.5 billion in tax revenues.  

Labour are not being honest about the bills they would hike, or the choices they would force onto families, for the cost of their ideological approach to net zero. Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to cut taxes and keep bills down for families.

Achievements on the Environment since 2010

• Increased the proportion of UK electricity generated by renewables fourfold.  The proportion of electricity generated by renewables was over 40 per cent in 2022 and reached a record of almost 50 per cent by the first quarter of 2023.
• Harnessed wind power.  Total wind generating capacity increased by 19 GW from 5.4 GW in 2010 to 28 GW in 2022.
• Accelerating the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen. The Government’s Energy Security Strategy sets out plans to accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, while supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term – which could see 95 per cent of electricity being low carbon by 2030. 
• New ambitions for offshore wind, solar and low carbon hydrogen production. A new ambition to produce up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 – more than enough to power every home in the UK – of which up to 5GW will come from floating offshore wind sites in deeper seas. The Government is also looking to increase the UK’s current solar capacity, which could grow up to 5 times by 2035, and aims to double our ambition for low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. 
• Accelerating nuclear power. The Government has launched a new Energy Security Strategy will see the acceleration of nuclear power, aiming to produce up to 24GW by 2050, which could mean delivering up to eight reactors, equivalent to one reactor a year instead of one a decade.
• Reduced the use of coal across the power sector. The UK has made huge progress in reducing the use of coal across the power sector, with coal accounting for only 1.5 per cent of the UK’s electricity mix in 2022, compared with 40 per cent almost a decade ago. 
• Introduced the Energy Act into law to increase the resilience and reliability of UK energy systems, support the delivery of climate change commitments while minimising consumer costs and providing protection against unfair pricing. To enable this, the Act is structured around three key pillars: liberating investment in clean technologies; reforming the UK’s energy system so it is fit for the future; while maintaining the safety, security and resilience of the UK’s energy sources. 
• Significantly reduced air pollution. Since 2010, air pollution has reduced significantly:
  • Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have fallen by 44%
  • Emissions of sulphur dioxide have fallen by 70%
  • Emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have fallen by 18%

• Introduced the toughest ever rules on water pollution. Through the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan:
  • By 2035, water companies will have improved all overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water; and improved 75 per of overflows discharging to high priority sites.
  • By 2050, no storm overflows will be permitted to operate outside of unusually heavy rainfall or to cause any adverse ecological harm.
  • There are currently event duration monitors on almost 90 per cent of the sewerage network. By the end of 2023, there will be 100 per cent coverage. In 2016, there was only 5 per cent coverage. 
• Introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. 
• Become a global leader in ocean protection with 38 per cent of UK waters in Marine Protected Areas. 
• Formed the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance to lead international efforts to tackle plastics pollution. 
• Reduced the use of plastic bags at the main retailers by over 98 per cent since 2015. £200 million has been voluntarily donated by retailers to good causes in that time.
• Introduced bans in October 2023 on single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks and polystyrene cups and food containers in England, with restrictions on the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays and bowls. This follows the restrictions on the supply of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds that came into force in 2020.  
• Introduced the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022, which is a tax of more than £200 per tonne on plastic packaging manufactured in or imported to the UK that does not contain at least 30 per cent recycled plastic. 
• Replaced the EU Common Agricultural Policy with a new farm support system which is less bureaucratic and also secures important environmental benefits to help address climate change, protect nature, and clean up our rivers. Reforms to agricultural policy are enabled through the Government’s manifesto commitment to guarantee an average of £2.4 billion to farmers and landowners in each year of this Parliament. 
• Providing farmers with a diverse range of paid actions to manage hedgerows for wildlife, plant nectar-rich wildflowers and manage crop pests without the use of insecticides. 
• Introduced a new set of legally binding targets to safeguard the environment, including a commitment to halt species decline by 2030 
• Planted over 15 million trees. Between 2010 and 2019 over 15 million trees, or nearly 13,000 hectares of new woodland in England were planted. The area of woodland in England now stands at 10.2 per cent, three thousand hectares more than 2021/22 .
• Put £750m towards tree planting and peatland restoration.
• Working to treble planting rates and restore 35,000 hectares of peatland by the end of the parliament.
• Introduced a general ban on use of neonicotinoids unless authorised for an emergency. 
• Played an important role in securing global agreement in new targets to halt the decline in nature at the COP15 conference on the Convention on Biodiversity. Almost 200 countries signed up to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement which sets the framework for the next decade of action to protect nature with a global commitment to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and ocean by the same date.
• Banned the use of microbeads in personal care products which harm the marine environment. This has been in place since 2018