Net-zero Emissions Target: Affordability

Lord Teverson Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, I feel that I ought almost to congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Curran, on her second speech to the House. I also look forward very much to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Rees.

I am almost embarrassed to admit that one of my first times as a Front-Bench spokesperson was during the consideration and passing of the Climate Change Bill in 2008, which came about largely because of the report The Economics of Climate Change, from the noble Lord, Lord Stern, which was of global significance. The great thing about that time was the unanimity and constructive nature not just of this House but of the other place as well. In this House, the Conservative Front Bench spokesperson was the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, and the never-to-be-forgotten and still very active the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, was Minister for Defra at that time, before DECC existed. There was unity on the idea that this was something that needed to be addressed.

We were the first globally to have such a comprehensive Act and set a net target of minus 60%, I think it was at that time, for emissions relative to 1990—later changed to 80% during the passage of the Bill. It went through with negligible opposition in both Houses, and since then that unity has continued to grow. As has been mentioned, the noble Baroness, Lady May, introduced and passed net zero for the Act in 2019. In a way, that was the high point of unity in this Parliament.

We then had Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. To be honest, Mr Sunak was not really interested in this area at all. He took some persuasion to go to his first COP. He went in the end, but his heart was not there. After the by-election in Uxbridge, when Boris Johnson resigned, there was a feeling—mainly because of the ultra low emission zone argument going on—that this was the time to start to question net zero. Mr Sunak did three things; first, he delayed heat pumps; secondly, he delayed the ban on internal combustion engines; and thirdly, he took away some of the plans for energy efficiency on tenanted housing.

However, to give Mr Sunak his due, he unsuspectingly asked his former Energy Minister, Chris Skidmore, to produce a report on net zero independently. For the benefit of the Conservative Front Bench in particular, Chris Skidmore was no bleeding-heart liberal. He came up with these conclusions as part of his report, under the heading

“Net zero is the growth opportunity of the 21st century”:


first,

“The UK must act decisively to seize the economic opportunities”;


secondly,

“The benefits of investing in net zero today outweigh the costs”;


thirdly,

“Net zero can materially improve people’s lives—now and in 2050”;


and, lastly,

“Net zero by 2050 remains the right target for the UK: it is backed by the science”.


That was a former Conservative Front-Bencher—not anybody who would ever be a Liberal Democrat—yet those were his conclusions.

Mr Sunak paid little attention to that and stayed on his retreat. What was the result? He lost 251 seats in the House of Commons last year. I suspect that his move towards Reform was not particularly successful, and that that will continue to be the case.

We now have the leader of the Opposition, first, declaring herself a “net-zero sceptic” and, secondly and more recently, saying that net zero is “impossible” without “bankrupting” the nation. The consequences if we do nothing are, as the noble Baroness just said, far greater. To give two macro examples, the CBI reported a 10% growth in the green economy in 2024 whereas the rest of the economy stayed pretty well as it was. On the micro side, the Government expect the warm homes plan to save individual households £140 per household. That would be far more if we had a proper future homes standard.

The UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, said that climate breakdown

“is a recipe for permanent recession”.

If we follow the Conservative Party down the route it is taking then that is where we are heading. I suggest to the noble Lord, Lord Offord, that he reads his colleague Chris Skidmore’s report to really get how this works.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, I apologise to the House. I forgot to declare my interests in the commercial battery storage sector.