Sunak backtracked on climate policies – and voters may punish him

Many hoped he would show global leadership – instead he pitched himself as ‘pragmatic’ and slowed the journey to net zero

Every time a UK government minister is asked about the climate crisis, the answer is the same. “We are the first major economy to halve emissions and have the most ambitious legally binding emissions targets in the world,” is the response, or a variation on those words.

It is true that since 1990 the UK has cut greenhouse gas emissions further and faster than any other major developed economy, while increasing the size of the economy. Emissions per capita are now lower than they have been since the mid-nineteenth century.