A leading energy expert has warned that the UK government’s pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at minimal cost is “hopelessly unrealistic”.
Sir Dieter Helm, a professor of energy policy at Oxford university — who has recently been advising the prime minister Boris Johnson — made the comments ahead of next week’s new energy plan designed to bolster Britain’s domestic resilience following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Helm’s intervention is awkward for Johnson, who has said the energy crisis will not derail his faith in Britain’s legally-binding carbon targets. He has instead insisted that the war, which has led to a spike in gas prices, has reinforced the need for more domestic, low-carbon energy.