Liz Truss has won the Conservative leadership contest and, with it, the position of UK prime minister
New UK PM deprioritises climate
Leadership campaign and recent appointment of a climate-change sceptic to lead on energy brief indicate a potential deceleration of the energy transition
Throughout an acrimonious Conservative party leadership campaign, eventual winner and new UK prime minister Liz Truss made it clear that climate would be a low priority for her compared with energy security and soaring consumer bills. Truss signed a pledge by lobby group Conservative Environment Network early in the leadership contest to affirm her commitment to meeting the UK’s net-zero target. The pledge also included subclauses supporting an expansion of renewables, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and home insulation. But her actual leadership campaign—aimed at winning votes among a more right-wing base within her party—took aim at a variety of domestic climate policies, from the
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