Government needs to focus on lowering energy costs to sell net zero, polling says
The government’s embattled net zero mission suffers from a PR problem.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been tasked with two huge goals: achieving clean power by 2030, and net zero by 2050.
According to fresh polling by PR agency Grayling Media, 55 per cent of people think the 2030 clean power target cannot be attained.
At the nexus of the net zero debate is cost. For 61 per cent, cutting household bills must be the top priority for the government, and should be at the centre of energy reform.
According to Grayling CEO Heather Blundell, “until ministers get better at communicating, and focus on household bills, and better jobs, the public will become increasingly disengaged and opposed.”
An expensive mission
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted that switching to clean energy will allow the UK to achieve energy independence – removing “Putin’s boot on our neck” – and, in turn, lower energy bills.
The government has launched a number of clean power projects, including the construction of wind farms in Scotland.
However, MPs have been vocal about their concerns that a rush to switching to clean energy will prove unsustainable, burdening the taxpayer at a time when the costs of living are high.
While the 2050 deadline for hitting net zero was introduced under a Conservative government, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has since reneged on the promise, claiming it can only be accomplished with “a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.”
Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie said: “the cost to businesses and households of subsidising renewables will increase from £12 billion to £19 billion by 2030.”
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage has promised to save £225 billion over five years through a cull of all net zero projects, though the Institute for Fiscal Studies has raised questions on what this “means in practice.”
But different polls have yielded varied results. According to polling by YouGov, 61 per cent of adults in the UK are broadly supportive of the net zero mission, while 24 per cent oppose it.
A fair deal
According to Grayling, voters are also concerned about whether the government can deliver a just transition.
Only 13 percent think the energy transition is being delivered fairly across the UK. This feeling is particularly pronounced in Wales and the East of England.
An ongoing debate around introducing locational pricing – the results of which will be revealed this summer in the governments Review of Energy Market Arrangements – has created concerns that the transition will see some emerge as winners, and others, losers.
44 per cent think they will end up paying for a transition that others will benefit most from.
Though opinions are partially determined by age; 64 per cent of those over the age of 55 believe zonal pricing would unfairly increase costs for some areas, compared to 27 per cent of those between 18 and 34.