The environment secretary has defended the government’s net zero agenda after Sir Tony Blair said phasing out fossil fuels was “doomed to fail”.
The former prime minister said the approach to transitioning to a green economy wasn’t “working” and was “inadequate” in a report published yesterday by the Tony Blair Institute.
But speaking to Sky News’ Wilfred Frost on Breakfast, Steve Reed said the government was “moving away from sticking plaster solutions towards doing what’s right for the future of the economy, and for the future of households”.
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He said transitioning to a green economy was necessary for the UK to take back “control of our own energy supply” especially in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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In his foreword to the report, Sir Tony called the whole strategy of transitioning to a green economy “unrealistic”.
“Present policy solutions are inadequate and, worse, are distorting the debate into a quest for a climate platform that is unrealistic and therefore unworkable,” he wrote.
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“Too often, political leaders fear saying what many know to be true: the current approach isn’t working.”
Asked whether he believed Sir Tony was right to say the focus shouldn’t be on using less fossil fuels but on using methods such as carbon capture, Mr Reed conceded that “we’ll still be using fossil fuels… for some time to come”.
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He added: “For many decades to come. The transition is so, so transition isn’t gonna happen overnight.”
Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins told Sky News that Sir Tony’s message should prompt a “rethink” in government.
“If even Tony Blair doesn’t agree with the Labour government, then that is quite a clear message. I would imagine to them that they have got to rethink this.”
