Following Liz Truss’s resignation last week, Rishi Sunak has been confirmed as the new Conservative Party leader. His appointment has been welcomed by some environment groups and green Tory MPs, perhaps revealing his green credentials outweigh that of Truss.
The new Prime Minister has never been considered a fully signed up member of the green agenda, and has so far kept his cards close to his chest on what policies he will support.
Sunak’s last ministerial job was as Chancellor under Boris Johnson, and whilst at number 11 Downing Street, the Treasury completed its Net Zero Review. His numerous Budget Statements included much on the net zero transition, including the launch of the National Infrastructure Bank; the creation of a £1 billion Net Zero Innovation fund; the launch of sovereign green savings bonds and ‘pocket parks’ for neglected urban spaces.
At COP26, Sunak was heckled by climate protestors but went on to outline a vision of making the UK the ‘world’s first net zero financial centre’. Measures taken to support this transition include the launch of a £16bn sovereign green bond package and the launch of a net zero transition plan mandate for large, high-emitting businesses from 2023. But expert organisations have stated in 2022 that the approach taken by Sunak is not foolproof, with major issues remaining.
Under Sunak, the Treasury has also, reportedly, been the cause of much frustration for Johnson on the progress of some other green policies. It reportedly delayed the Heat and Buildings Strategy, then mismanaged the delivery of the Green Homes Grant in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Sunak was also behind some hugely unpopular decisions across the UK’s green economy as Chancellor. In announcing a windfall tax on fossil fuel giants (which was reluctantly introduced following lobbying from Labour) he also offered a 91% tax super deduction for these businesses’ which means for £1 spent in “UK extraction” up to 91% of the costs would be covered by the tax saving.
Since Johnson’s government, Truss has obliterated relations with groups such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust, and divided the Conservative party over her insistence on fracking. Her first actions in power included trying to ban solar generation from most of England’s farmland and weakening environmental protections in the retained EU law bill, investment zones and rowing back on nature-friendly farming payments schemes.
Shaun Spiers, the executive director of the environmental thinktank Green Alliance, said: “Sunak said he wanted to stick to the 2019 manifesto, which was pretty good on this stuff, and Liz Truss wanted to junk it.”
Spiers hopes a new government could heal relations with green groups: “We need a secretary of state in Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] who can demand respect – perhaps George Eustice or Tracey Crouch. After five years of really good relations between the environment groups and Defra was thrown away in six weeks, it would be good if he could rebuild.”
“In the hustings in the summer, when there were lots of candidates, we had a conservative environment network hustings for each of them and they all made their environmental pitches,” said Philip Dunne, the chair of the environmental audit committee in parliament. “He was straightforward in saying he’s a believer in net zero Britain, he had a specific proposition for getting homes insulated more quickly and is pretty strong on nature.
“I was persuaded that he is part of the broad consensus in the Conservative party that we need to leave the environment in a better state than we left it.”
One of Sunak’s first big calls was the appointment of Grant Shapps as replacement for Jacob Rees-Mogg as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The big question is still unanswered: Will he move forward with Rees-Mogg EU law bill, which would take away hundreds of environmental protection laws?
Dunne said: “The EU law issue has potential to be significantly damaging, I am sure he will be looking very carefully at it.”
Victoria Prentis, who was the farming minister in Defra under Johnson and is now a Department for Work and Pensions minister, said Sunak had been listening to those passionate about the environment, including his daughters, and that he “really gets farming”.
But Sunak has certainly never been a passionate environmentalist. He has always voted in line with his party on the environment – that is, largely against measures to prevent climate breakdown – and it is not something he has ever felt strongly enough about to rebel on. He did, however, vote for more regulation of fracking in 2015.
However, on Monday afternoon Sunak made the environment a key pledge in his speech to Tory MPs. As climate and cost of living activists occupied parliament, he said he would deliver on net zero carbon emissions, adding his would be an “environmentally focused government”.
But Truss has created a lot of work for Sunak to restore any green credentials the Conservative party once had.
Another concern is that Sunak has the backing of vocal climate action sceptic MPs including Kemi Badenoch, who has called the net zero target “unilateral economic disarmament”, and Steve Baker, the founder of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Tory MPs.
Baker, when asked whether Sunak would be good for the environment as prime minister, archly said: “He will be amazing on everything.”
Sunak and COP27
With COP27 just two short weeks away, Egyptian ambassador, Mohamed Nasr, has urged the new UK prime minister not to ditch the UK’s climate leadership role.
“We know that there are challenges, economic challenges that are there, facing the UK and other countries, but we hope that those challenges does not lead to backsliding on the pledges,” the ambassador said in response to a question from Sky News.
Rishi Sunak is scheduled to attend COP27 in Sharm-El-Sheikh this November, where all eyes are on the new PM and his plans for the country.
