UK leader Rishi Sunak delays ban on new gas and diesel cars by 5 years in contentious climate shift
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he’s delaying by five years a ban on new gas and diesel cars that had been due to take effect in 2030
LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday that he’s delaying by five years a ban on new gas and diesel cars that had been due to take effect in 2030, watering down climate goals that he said imposed “unacceptable costs” on ordinary people.
The move angered green groups, opposition politicians and large chunks of U.K. industry, but was welcomed by some in the governing Conservative Party who chafe at the expense of ending the country's reliance on fossil fuels.
At a news conference, Sunak said he was moving the deadline for buying new gasoline and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, weakening a ban on new new natural-gas home furnaces due to start in 2035, and scrapping a requirement for landlords to make properties more energy-efficient.
He said he would keep a promise to reduce the U.K.’s emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, but with “a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach.”
In a statement designed at least in part to woo voters ahead of an election next year, Sunak rejected environmental proposals including new aviation taxes, measures to encourage car-pooling and taxes on meat — none of which has actually been introduced.
To meet net-zero goals, he said, the government will build more windfarms and nuclear reactors, invest in new green technologies and introduce new measures to protect nature.
Sunak argued the U.K. was “far ahead of every other country in the world” in transforming to a green economy, but said moving too fast risked “losing the consent of the British people.”
“How can it be right that British citizens are now being
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