Environmental organizations Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have written to the prime minister expressing concerns about several pending government decisions that could collectively impede the UK’s path toward net zero emissions targets.
The groups identified four major policy decisions awaiting government action: approval of drilling at the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea, expansion of Heathrow airport, potential weakening of electric vehicle sales mandates, and potential cuts to grants supporting heat pump installations. According to analysis cited in the letter, the cumulative emissions from approving all these proposals could reach 402 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 25 years, equivalent to approximately 106 coal plants operating for a year.
Campaigners emphasized that these decisions should not be evaluated in isolation by separate government departments but rather assessed collectively for their combined climate impact. The government recently approved drilling at the Jackdaw gasfield despite receiving analysis showing it would create only 27 new jobs. Car manufacturers have lobbied for relaxing the mandate requiring all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2035, requesting allowance for up to half of sales to remain petrol or diesel in 2030. Airlines have pressed for Heathrow expansion, which Treasury officials have supported as an economic growth opportunity.
Chief Scientist Doug Parr at Greenpeace cautioned that while the administration appears to recognize the urgency of emissions reduction, the government risks reversing previous climate progress through these decisions. Climate lead Imogen Dow at Friends of the Earth countered industry arguments by noting that renewable energy investment could reduce household bills and that the net zero economy has grown faster than the broader economy.
A government spokesperson responded by stating that industrial reinvestment would not come at the expense of climate commitments, citing £110 billion in announced clean energy investment and record renewable energy auctions over the past two years.
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