ONE OF Reading’s two MPs has called on the government to prove it can meet its net zero targets.
Sir Alok Sharma, who is to stand down as Reading West MP at the forthcoming general election, was COP26 president and helped formulate a deal to reduce the use of coal, wants to know more about Rishi Sunak’s plans to tackle the climate emergency.
In September, Mr Sunak announced a rolling back on some initiatives from his predecessors.
This included delaying by five years a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol or diesel cars, and not obligating landlords to insulate rental properties to proposed higher standards.
The planned phaseout of gas boiler sales by 2035 has also been delayed.
At the time, he said that this was an honest approach that would remove “unacceptable costs” from “hard-working British people”.
Despite this, Mr Sunak said: “We are committed to Net Zero by 2050 … but doing so in a better, more proportionate way.”
In an interview with the i newspaper, Sir Alok said today: “If (meeting the UK’s legally binding carbon targets) remains the Government’s view, it must provide a detailed update to parliament evidencing this assessment”.
The comments come after a leak showing the government is being its targets for new nuclear power projects.
In the wake of the COP28 conference, Sir Alok said that “genuine progress” had been made by the governments that gathered in Dubai last month.
“Key now is if countries will deliver the rapid cuts in emissions needed to keep 1.5c alive,” he wrote on the social media network that everyone still calls Twitter.
“As delegates leave Dubai, the impassioned calls of the most climate vulnerable nations for more action should be ringing in their ears.
“We must unlock the finance required to support developing nations to transition their economies.
“And the decisions at this COP must signal the end of business-as-usual for the fossil fuel industry.”
