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
![](/images/white-fade.png)
Also in this section
21 July 2024
Awards experience 20% increase in nominations this year, with submissions from 27 countries
18 July 2024
Platform developed at Scottish university uses advanced simulations and machine learning to find most cost-effective and sustainable combinations of materials for use in carbon capture
18 July 2024
Stockholm Exergi agrees to one of world’s largest deployments of CO₂ liquefication technology to enable transport of emissions captured from biomass power plant
11 July 2024
Watkins will leverage her financial acumen and strategic insight to lead Gulf’s commercial initiatives across media, events, and market intelligence