King set to tone down net zero support after Tories change stance

Monarch risks being dragged into political dispute as Badenoch breaks consensus, royal sources admit

- Richard Palmer

King Charles will have to temper his public support for net zero after Kemi Badenoch broke the political consensus over the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.

Senior royal sources have conceded that the 76-year-old monarch, who has spent more than half a century highlighting environmental challenges, will have to choose his words more carefully now that the Conservatives under Badenoch have said it will be impossible for the UK to hit net zero by 2050.

"The only way that we can regain it [trust] is to tell the unvarnished truth - net zero by 2050 is impossible," the Conservative leader said last month.

Charles III has spoken publicly about how vital it is to hit net zero by the 2050 target date, set by Theresa May's government in 2019 and agreed upon by subsequent administrations. Successive prime ministers have used the king's long track record on campaigning for climate action to help promote Britain's leadership on combating the challenges.

In December 2023, for example, the king told the Cop28 UN climate change conference in Dubai that more urgent action was needed to bring the world towards a zero-carbon future.

"After all, ladies and gentlemen, in 2050 our grandchildren won't be asking what we said, they will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do," he said.