UK Tory Leader Abandons Climate Plan In Speech At Office Of Advertising Agency That Works For Shell
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch today ditched her party’s commitment to the UK’s flagship climate target in a speech hosted by an advertising group that works for Shell, DeSmog can reveal. During her address, Badenoch suggested that we are “bankrupting ourselves” in the pursuit of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. She said that the country should still seek to reduce its climate impact, but shouldn’t set a date for achieving net zero.
Badenoch said that Britain has “the highest electricity bills in the developed world” – which is caused by expensive gas prices rather than the cost of renewables – and claimed that the UK is “only responsible for 1 percent of global emissions”. In reality, taking into account its colonial history, the UK is responsible for more than five times this figure. The Tory leader, who has received recent donations from fossil fuel interests and climate science deniers, made her speech at the Havas Village in King’s Cross, London, and was introduced by H/Advisors CEO Neil Bennett.
H/Advisors is owned by Havas – one of the world’s largest public relations and advertising agencies, based in France. Bennett said he was “delighted” to welcome Badenoch to the Havas campus for her speech, to ensure the company stays “at the heart of public debate”.
EDIT
“Let’s not forget that it was the Tories that legally enshrined the 2050 net zero target,” said Agustina Olivieri, Good Law Project head of digital communications, “but they never acted on this seriously – as Good Law Project helped to expose in successive High Court battles. “And now with a nihilist in the White House and fossil fuel funding filling their coffers as their impetus, Badenoch’s party have spinelessly decided to drop it altogether.”
EDIT
https://www.desmog.com/2025/03/18/kemi-badenoch-made-anti-net-zero-speech-at-shell-ad-agency-havas/