Europe is turning against net zero

The contrast couldn’t be greater. In Britain a wealthy cabinet minister goes on television to boast of how he is installing a heat pump in his home – something his government is proposing to force on millions of British homeowners over the next few years in spite of them costing many thousands of pounds more than a gas or oil boiler. Meanwhile, in France, the President makes a speech calling for a ‘regulatory pause’ on green issues in order to push for the ‘re-industrialisation’ of his country.

So far, Britain and the EU have moved more or less in tandem on climate change – which is not all that surprising given that until three years ago Britain was a member of the EU and therefore within its regulatory orbit. Both are committed – at least in theory – to a legally binding target of achieving net zero by 2050; Germany and Sweden have taken it further and have a 2045 target. Yet over the past few months Britain and the EU have started to diverge – and in the opposite direction to that which had been feared by many Remainers. While the UK government has declined to weaken its net-zero commitment in the face of a cost-of-living crisis, in the EU the green tide is showing signs of receding.

In Britain the government has refused to budge with its ban on fracking, and only gave permission for a coking coal mine reluctantly after years of failing to support the project; Germany is tackling the energy crisis by re-opening coal mines for thermal coal. Indeed, the energy giant RWE is removing a wind farm to dig for lignite, the filthiest form of coal. The fortunes of Germany’s Green party are in reverse, with its share of the vote plunging to its lowest level in 20 years in a regional election in Bremen last week.