UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed that he is pushing back a ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by five years to 2035, saying the country is aligning its policy with EU countries, Canada, Australia and some US states. He also said that his government will not ban new oil and gas projects in the North Sea.
On the decision to push back the ban on the new gasoline and diesel cars, Sunak said today that the country needs more time. The UK has "further to go to get the [electric vehicle] charging infrastructure ready", he said, adding that the car industry needs to be strengthened "so we aren't reliant on heavily subsidised carbon-intensive imports from countries like China".
Upfront costs of electric vehicles are too high for some families, and small businesses are "worried about the practicalities", Sunak said. After 2035, gasoline and diesel cars will still be available in the UK second-hand.
Responding to a question about whether the delay will create investment instability after businesses expressed concern earlier today, Sunak said that 2035 is "the global mainstream target for electric vehicles and that it is hard for anyone to say that somehow it is putting the country at a disadvantage". The European Council approved in March proposals to ban the sale of internal combustion engine (Ice) cars in the EU by 2035, paving the way towards electrification, although the plan provides an exemption for cars running on e-fuel.
Off the grid
Sunak also said today that the government will "give people more time to make the necessary transition to heat pumps", but this will apply mostly to people who are off grid. British people will only have to make the switch when replacing their boiler, and not until 2035, he said, which is unchanged from the UK's 2021 strategy. Cash grants for boiler upgrades will increase by 50pc to £7,500, Sunak added.
Meanwhile on energy efficiency, Sunak said he is scrapping a policy that would have forced some homeowners to make "expensive upgrades" by 2025.
Conservative member of parliament (MP) and former UN Cop 26 climate summit president Alok Sharma, who is attending the UN climate ambition summit in New York this week, told the BBC earlier today that if the government scales back on net zero policies in a particular area, higher emissions reductions would have to be found elsewhere to hit the UK's 2050 net zero target.
"It is not as simple as one [policy] in, one out," Sunak told journalists, stressing that the government is not watering down the country's targets. The secretary of state for energy has a responsibility to ensure that the country is on track to deliver all the UK's global and domestic commitments, including a legally-binding goal to deliver a 68pc emissions reduction by 2030, he said. Sunak is confident that the UK will deliver its 2030 and 2050 climate targets, accounting for the changes announced today.
On North Sea oil and gas, Sunak said his government will not ban new projects "because it would leave the country reliant on expensive imported energy from foreign dictators like Putin". And on the subject of improving energy security, he also announced that the government will "shortly bring forward new reforms" for power infrastructure.
Sunak highlighted the infrastructure hurdles that the power industry is facing. "We are investing billions in new energy projects, yet we don't have the grid infrastructure to bring that power to households and businesses," he said, adding that the government will speed up planning for the most nationally significant projects and "will end the first come first served approach to grid connection".
Responding to Sunak's announcements today, Piers Forster, chair of the UK government advisory body the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said: "We need go away and do the calculations, but today's announcement is likely to take the UK further away from being able to meet its legal commitments".
"This, coupled with the recent unsuccessful offshore wind auction, gives us concern," he added.
