PM Sunak sets Britain back on climate change, says watchdog head

21/4/2024 6:14

        Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has set Britain back on tackling climate change and must do more on heating and industrial emissions to stop slipping behind
        other nations, the head of the government's advisory body has said.
        
        Chris Stark, who will step down as chief executive of the independent Climate Change Committee next week, told the BBC broadcaster that UK climate policy had become less ambitious.
        
        "That is extremely hard to recover," Stark said, according to excerpts from the interview due to air on Sunday.
        
        "I think it's set us back."
        
        Under pressure to address cost-of-living concerns and trailing the opposition Labour Party before an election later this year, Sunak has outraged environmental campaigners by watering down some measures to reach net zero emissions.
        
        He says delaying targets for changing cars and domestic heating are pragmatic moves needed to maintain the consent of the British people, with the country's commitment to reach net zero by 2050 still intact.