Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050 — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Andy Burnham said the UK must "believe in itself" and fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, his strongest comments yet on climate, writing in the Guardian about plans to roll out community-led green energy schemes.
- Burnham tied the net zero drive to devolution, proposing "people's power projects" — community-owned solar panels, windfarms, and hydro schemes across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
- Burnham described Britain's hottest summer on record, citing nurses collapsing on hospital wards, bus drivers working in 40C cabs, and wildfires destroying homes, declaring: "The climate crisis is not a distant threat."
- Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh had been poised to recommend approval of the Jackdaw gasfield off Aberdeen but delayed the decision until later autumn; consultations on Jackdaw and Rosebank closed last month.
- The Greens accused Labour of trying to bury the Jackdaw decision before the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, where Zack Polanski, leader of the Greens in England and Wales, is challenging for the seat vacated by Keir Starmer.
- Labour MPs warned that approving either North Sea field would boost the Greens and undermine Burnham's net zero pledge, framing the upcoming decision as the first concrete test of his newly muscular climate rhetoric.
- The article notes a sharp shift in tone: in August, climate organisations accused Burnham of being silent during the heatwave, with his main response being a ban on portable barbecues.
Why it matters: Burnham is trying to neutralise the Greens before a high-profile byelection in Holborn and St Pancras, but the Jackdaw and Rosebank decisions sitting on his desk could quickly undercut the pledge. With Britain's hottest summer on record just past and energy secretary Fahnbulleh still weighing the North Sea fields, the commitment now faces its first concrete policy test — one that Labour backbenchers warn could hand ammunition to the Greens and divide the party.
Ask SkimNews
