Environmental campaigner and new Labour MP Polly Billington has warned that a lack of political consensus around tackling climate change could put the new government’s target of reaching net zero power by 2030 under threat.
“You need to establish political consensus across the parties and that is something that’s seriously under threat now with the behaviour of the Conservatives,” she told attendees of Zero Festival 2024 which took place at the Business Design Centre in London on 22 October and 23 October.
Adding that achieving this consensus to advance policies has already become ‘significantly more difficult’, Polly Billington, a former special advisor to Secretary of State for Energy, Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband, said: “There is still a chunk of the Conservative Party, and of course Reform, who are militantly against us achieving this for all sorts of reasons. Net zero seems to be the language that the far right have latched onto for something that they can start attacking.”
It follows a promise by leading Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick that he would tear up the Climate Change Act if he eventually becomes Prime Minister.
Acknowledging that Labour needed to be able to defend its net zero ambitions against what Robert Jenrick has in part described as ‘Soviet-style five-year plans’, Polly Billington, now Member of Parliament for East Thanet, added the answer could lie in appealing to the benefits they will provide to people’s everyday lives.
“We do need to be aware that people’s priorities are their own health and wellbeing. So making the case for this ‘making you better off, giving you and your family security as well as opportunity’ is going to be vital,” she added.
“This [summer’s electoral campaign] is the first time on the doorsteps that when I said we’ll make serious efforts to make people’s homes more energy efficient, people were nodding rather than saying ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ The markets and the reality of what’s happening in Ukraine have focused people’s minds on the need for energy efficiency in their own homes.”
The Net Zero Festival 2024brought together more than 2,000 business leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers and campaigners to showcase the best of the UK’s green economy and explore strategies for turbocharging decarbonisation. Climate activist Clover Hogan, author and TV presenter Simon Reeve and Google’s head of sustainability Adam Elman also spoke at the two-day event.
James Murray, co-founder of Net Zero Festival and editor-in-chief of BusinessGreen said: “Action on climate change is more critical than ever, so this year’s Net Zero Festival has been one of our most impactful yet.
“We’ve seen an incredible surge in interest in this year’s event, reflecting the urgency and importance of the net zero agenda and how serious it is being taken by our new government. We brought together a diverse group of leaders to collaborate on tangible solutions for a sustainable future and the focus from today must now be on converting this enthusiasm into actionable collaboration.”
Now in its fifth year, the CPD accredited event remains free to attend.
