Net zero Oil crisis is driving climate division

Could net zero become “the next Brexit”?

- Fiona Harvey Environment editor

That is the fear stalking climate advocates as the oil crisis caused by the war on Iran starts to bite.A powerful coalition of Reform UK led by Nigel Farage, the Conservative party, some business interests and the UK’s rightwing media are engaged in an onslaught against the longstanding target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

They claim that net zero is worsening the oil crisis and drilling in the North Sea is the remedy - despite clear evidence that more North Sea oil would do nothing to reduce UK bills, while climate action would reduce bills and protect the UK from future energy shocks.

While support for net zero remains strong, with more than 60% of voters in favour of climate action, experts say the same techniques that won the Brexit referendum for the Leave camp are being brought to bear on the climate crisis.

“These are largely the same people [as those who campaigned for Leave] and they are using similar arguments,” says Shaun Spiers, a former executive director of the Green Alliance thinktank. “They are blaming climate action for everything that’s going wrong - the cost of living, the economy - even though it’s clearly not to blame. They think it’s an easy target, it’s easy politics, and they’re presenting [scrapping the policies] to people as a panacea.”