Four of the five remaining Tory leadership hopefuls – Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Tom Tugendhat – have committed to maintaining the government’s legally binding goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. The contenders for the Tory leadership have signed up to a raft of pledges put forward by the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), including continuing with the post-Brexit nature-friendly farming subsidies and switching to renewable energy. The other leadership candidate, Kemi Badenoch, had not yet signed up to the pledge, and has previously described the net zero target as “arbitrary”. She has been contacted for comment. The pledge specifically commits candidates to delivering the government’s key environmental targets, including net zero by 2050 and halting species decline by 2030.
It also commits candidates to a reform of the EU’s farming payments scheme, and instead paying landowners to protect the environment. Those who sign the pledge affirm that they think renewable energy is the future, and vow to invest in new clean technologies. The pledge declares that “care for the environment is core to conservatism” and commits to “continuing the Conservative party’s leadership on the environment” and to “addressing the defining environmental challenges of our generation”. There has been a fierce battle between Tories regarding the climate and environment, with minister and peer Zac Goldsmith even saying he would vote for an opposition party if a Conservative leader ditched net zero. The green wing of the party has been fighting to regain control of the conversation around climate and net zero after two leadership candidates, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, who is now out of the race, said they would push the 2050 target back.
They seem to have somewhat succeeded. While Tugendhat told the 1922 Committee hustings he would also move back the target, he appears to have had a change of heart after angry responses from his colleagues. He said when asked by reporters on Thursday: “Of course I agree with the target, but nobody yet has set out a path to achieving it.” He has now signed up to the CEN targets. Sunak, for his part, has assured the green wing of the party that he plans to protect the environment if elected leader. There are 120 MPs in CEN, who have been asking candidates to reassure them on climate policies after a worrying start to the leadership race. Chris Skidmore, a leading green Tory who chairs the environment all-party parliamentary group, lent Sunak his backing after meetings in which the former chancellor assured him he would not roll back climate policies. Skidmore told the Guardian: “Since the Conservative leadership race began, we have seen some very worrying statements from a few candidates that had sent shockwaves across the international climate scene – suggesting that the UK should water down our climate commitments or abandon net zero by 2050. “To have done so would have been catastrophic not only for the future of the UK economy – particularly in post industrial regions in the north, the so called ‘red wall’ that is directly benefiting right now from a green industrial revolution – but it would have been disastrous for the UK’s leadership on climate, especially while still during our presidency of Cop26.”