Government urged to scrap phrase net zero as it has become ‘toxic’
The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee warned that the phase net zero has lost its "significant positive association".
The phrase net zero should be scrapped by the Government as it has become toxic to the public, an influential group of MPs has recommended.
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The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee warned that the term has now “lost much of its significant positive association” amid increasing misinformation.
Energy price shocks, which have triggered a cost-of-living crisis, have led to the breakdown of a consensus about tackling climate change by reducing the country’s emissions, the committee warned in its latest report.
Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have broken with the consensus around net zero and have called for Britain to get more of its energy from tapping fossil fuel reserves in the North Sea.
Kemi Badenoch has announced the Tories no longer support the target of Britain meeting net zero by 2050, while Reform UK has attacked the Government’s green energy policies as “net stupid zero”.
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The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee includes Conservative and Lib Dem MPs but is largely made up of Labour politicians.
It signalled that the transition to green energy remains important, and warned of the impact climate change will have on UK farming and food production.
But it said a change of direction was needed in how to communicate the move away from fossil fuels, including by changing the name of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The report said: “The term net zero has lost much of its significant positive association. It increasingly acts as a distraction from the broader aims of the energy transition and as a lightning rod for opposition to climate action.
“As part of efforts to communicate the energy transition effectively, the term net zero should be dropped from the department’s name and its key communications.”
The report also recommended the Government changes how it communicates its energy transition plans.
“Simply providing information will not be enough,” it said, with the MPs warning this could lead to those opposed to net zero becoming more entrenched in their opinion.
Granting further powers to media regulator Ofcom to regulate misinformation about climate change were among the steps it recommended to build trust.
Energy and net zero minister Martin McCluskey was asked whether net zero was now a damaging term as he toured broadcast studios on Thursday.
He said he did not agree with that characterisation, and insisted that the energy transition was also important for weaning Britain off foreign fossil fuels.