Ed Miliband sets legal target of cutting emmissions by 87% by 2040 using heat pumps, EVs and renewables

The Government has signed up to a legal target to cut the UK’s planet-heating emissions by 87 per cent by 2040, which will see heat pumps, electric cars and renewables rolled out across the country.

Climate Minister Katie White said that the changes would both bring down bills and “lead to an upgraded lifestyle”.

The reduction in greenhouse gases on 1990 levels – on the way to cutting climate pollution to zero overall by 2050, known as “net zero” – is in line with official advice from the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) on deliverable and cost-effective cuts.

But the Government’s commitment to the “seventh carbon budget” emissions target for the period 2038-2042 comes amid increasing political division over climate action, with Reform UK and the Tories promising to ditch net zero policies and back oil and gas drilling.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the drive for clean homegrown power was the “only way” to protect family and business finances as he accused opponents of sticking their heads in the sand about climate breakdown and its impact on future generations.

He said: “As Britain faces the second fossil fuel shock of the decade, the only way to protect family and business finances is to drive for clean homegrown power that we control.

“What has been achieved so far by businesses and communities across the country is a great British success story – cutting costs by upgrading homes, backing British businesses, supporting one million good jobs according to new analysis from CBI Economics, and protecting our beautiful countryside.

The CCC has said meeting the target will require households to install heat pumps instead of new boilers, switch to electric cars and eat less meat and dairy, but families could save £1,400 a year by mid century in the shift away from fossil fuels for heating and driving.

However, Ms White, the Leeds North West MP, said the Government would not be telling people what to eat from an environmental perspective.

“We’re focusing on those items in terms of decarbonising our homes, decarbonising surface transport,” she said.

“It’s around those big items, in which electrification is going to be the main area, where we reduce our bills and reduce our emissions, and it’s really exciting.

“We are expecting an upgraded lifestyle in many ways, your homes will be cheaper to run, more comfortable.”

The net zero target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall by 2050 on 1990 levels, with any residual pollution offset by carbon-capturing measures such as planting trees, is set under the landmark Climate Change Act, passed in 2008.

Under the Act, the government of the day must legislate for emissions caps for future five-yearly “budgets” on a strict timetable, with the seventh carbon budget due by the end of June.

Officials said a delivery plan setting out how the cuts would be delivered will be published as soon as practicable after Parliament has approved the budget.

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho accused the Government of trying to “force through a new net zero target that will make us weaker, poorer and send everyone’s energy bills even higher”, saying it showed they were not putting the national interest first.

“The best thing for our economy, for growth and for cutting emissions, is to make electricity cheap,” she said.