Rishi Sunak defends U.K. climate policy U-turn amid international criticism

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/22/ [login to see] /rishi-sunak-uk-climate-policy-changes
Amid growing international criticism, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended watering down key U.K. climate policies.

In a press conference Wednesday, Sunak announced a series of major U-turns on climate policies, including delaying by five years the target to ban sales of new gas and diesel cars — which will now come into force in 2035 rather than 2030 — and a nine-year delay on phasing out gas boilers, which will now come into force in 2035.

Sunak insisted he was not slowing down efforts to combat climate change. But his government's own climate adviser called the prime minister's assertion that the U.K. would still succeed in meeting its 2050 net-zero target "wishful thinking."