The UK government will go “all in” on clean energy and climate policy, the energy secretary has said, as he unveiled plans to put the UK back on track to reach its net zero commitments.
In the face of intensifying attacks on climate policy from the poll-leading Reform UK party and the Conservatives, the government insists that pushing for renewable energy and lower carbon emissions will reduce household bills and boost the economy.
Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, told the Guardian: “This Labour government is all in on action to tackle the climate crisis because it is the way to secure better lives for people in Britain today and protect future generations tomorrow.
“This plan sets out the ambitious actions we have taken in our first 15 months – unleashing investment, creating jobs, rebuilding our energy security. Meanwhile, our political opponents have embarked down an anti-jobs, anti-science path that would spell disaster for our economy, our security and our planet.
“Future generations will look back and judge us all on whether we took action to protect our planet and our way of life. This government is proud to be judged on this metric – and at Cop30 next week we will show that we are willing in both word and deed to fight for our planet.”
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has backed the blueprint, called the “carbon budget delivery plan”, published on Wednesday afternoon, by which the government has reaffirmed its commitment to decarbonise the UK’s electricity supply by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically by 2037.
Renters will be allowed to demand that their landlords give them access to electric vehicle charging, in a redrawing of current rules, and industry will gain discounts to help reduce its energy costs.
Heat pumps will be targeted as the low-carbon heating option to which the vast majority of the country will have to move, but the government has refused to rule out hydrogen for home heating, despite expert evidence that it would be expensive and unviable.
No firm price tag will be attached to the plan, but the government calculates it will not add to already high energy bills. The manifesto commitment to reduce energy bills by £300 still stands.
Although the government would not confirm this, some observers believe that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, may move to remove or reduce VAT on energy bills in the November budget.
Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, one of the groups that brought a legal action forcing the government to publish the new plan, said: “The government has signalled that it recognises that meaningful climate action isn’t just a legal duty – it’s a massive social and economic opportunity too. Done right, it can deliver cheaper bills, warmer homes and thousands of good green jobs. This would help tackle the deep inequality felt across the country and build a fairer, more prosperous future.”
The plan covers all the main sources of carbon emissions, including energy, transport, agriculture, homes and industry. But campaigners said there were some omissions – for instance, there was no commitment to reducing the number of flights people take. The government is greenlighting the expansion of airports including Gatwick and Heathrow.
Instead, the plan promises that 22% of fuel used in planes will be sustainable aviation fuel, which is in high demand globally and requires huge amounts of land to produce.
Juliet Michaelson, director of the climate charity Possible, said: “This plan still lacks realistic thinking on the most difficult-to-decarbonise areas, such as aviation. The reality is that the people who pollute the most will have to be made to pollute less.”
The plan makes little mention of public transport, focusing on the uptake of electric vehicles rather than planning new railways. Climate experts say road use will have to be reduced to meet net zero, and motorist numbers are rising year-on-year.
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Emissions from farming are also stubbornly high and hard to bring down, but farming measures in the plan focus on “land use change”. To be consistent with recommendations from the Climate Change Committee, this would have to mean less land used for animal agriculture, but that is not explicitly addressed.
Recommitting to climate action is a calculated political gamble. Reform has made scrapping net zero and climate policy, and pushing for an increase in fossil fuel use, a centrepiece of its policy offering. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has also vowed to repeal the Climate Change Act and push for more gas.
Some within the Labour party want Starmer to follow suit by abandoning the pledge to decarbonise electricity and allow for more fossil fuel use. The former Labour leader Tony Blair’s thinktank has pushed for such a U-turn several times this year.
But others within government argue that backing down on climate policy will only alienate core voters, while depriving the UK of the opportunities of low-carbon economic growth. The CBI found that the green economy was growing three times faster than the rest of the economy, and many key businesses have expressed their backing for net zero.
Most of the “carbon budget delivery plan” unveiled on Wednesday was not new policy but restatements of existing measures. Publishing the plan was a legal requirement, placed on the government by the high court last year after a legal challenge by charities including Friends of the Earth and ClientEarth.
The court ordered the Conservative government at the time, which was accused of falling behind on its statutory obligation to cut carbon to net zero by 2050, to publish a clear plan on how to meet the UK’s five-yearly carbon budgets, set out by the Climate Change Committee.
Kyle Lischak, the head of UK at ClientEarth, said: “Security and prosperity will only endure when policy aligns with nature, not against it. We’re proud that the legacy of our work on this climate plan is one of holding Westminster to its word. This new plan exists because people and organisations stood up for the rule of law and demanded honesty about how the UK intends to meet its climate commitments; the law enables the courts and the public to ensure promises are backed by credible action.”
