Legal commitment to attaining ‘net-zero’

IN his recent letter about EV cars and heat pumps, Mr Mike Butterfield deploys a familiar disingenuous argument, which implies that people can no longer buy a petrol vehicle or gas boiler, but are instead being forced now to purchase ‘green’ replacements.

Under the 2019 recommendations of the UK Climate Change Committee, accepted by both Government and opposition parties, the date when it would not be possible to do so was set at 2030; at the time, more than a decade, and now still six years, ahead. Furthermore, those with functioning ‘old technology’ would not be required to replace it overnight on 31st December, 2030 but only when it failed.

Mr Sunak, with his eyes firmly set on short-term political gain, has replaced the 2030 date with 2035, much to the consternation of the expert community who consider that this will undermine the UK’s legal commitment to attaining ‘net-zero’ by 2050.

The measures set out in 2019 were practical and gave the public time to plan ahead, while ensuring that the country meets what it signed up to in the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, as pointed out by other correspondents to this newspaper, the use of ‘green’ technologies can be economically advantageous to those deploying them.

Of course, by advocating not putting the necessary measures in place in a timely fashion, Mr Butterfield clearly does not believe that this will inevitably cause very serious problems for future generations.

In my book that has nothing to do with ‘practicality’ but everything to