Burnham in danger of sleepwalking into climate disaster, say campaigners — SkimNews
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- Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said approving Rosebank drilling, Heathrow expansion, weaker electric-vehicle targets and reduced heat-pump grants would produce 402m tonnes of CO2 over 25 years—more than 106 coal plants running for a year and enough to prevent the UK meeting its carbon budgets and net-zero goal.
- Jackdaw gasfield won government approval last week despite warnings that it would create only 27 jobs, add little to tax revenues and fail to cut the cost of living.
- ECIU estimated future emissions from car manufacturers’ proposal to allow up to half of 2030 car and van sales to be petrol or diesel at roughly 60% of Rosebank’s emissions; the current targets are 80% electric sales by 2030 and all new car and van sales electric by 2035.
- Healey strongly favoured Heathrow expansion on economic-growth grounds, while campaigners countered that the UK is already embarking on airport expansion at Gatwick.
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme was facing a grant cut in Healey’s Wednesday budget despite the gas savings offered by heat pumps and the slow transition to electric heating.
- UK government said reindustrialisation would never mean reneging on climate obligations and net zero, pointing to £110bn in announced clean-power investment and thousands of jobs supported by record renewable-energy auctions.
- CBI reported that the net-zero economy had grown faster than the rest of the economy, while campaigners said renewable energy can bring down household bills amid soaring oil and gas prices.
Why it matters: For Burnham, the cumulative 402m-tonne figure is the material test: it exceeds one year of emissions from 106 coal plants and would conflict with UK carbon budgets. The counterweight is economic as well as environmental, with £110bn in announced clean-power investment, thousands of jobs and a net-zero economy the CBI says has outgrown the wider economy.
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