Britain

The British government is postponing some of the plans that were supposed to make the country climate neutral by 2050, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told a news conference. The background, according to Sunak, is that climate action should not unnecessarily penalise the British people. “If we continue down this path, we risk losing the British people and the resulting backlash will not only be against specific policies but against the wider mission,” Sunak said.
    One of the actions is to ease the transition to electric vehicles. This is done by postponing the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars until 2035 from 2030. In addition, the prime minister said he will not reduce flights in the country by taxing or banning new oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. Moreover, British citizens should not be forced to implement energy measures in their homes to tackle climate change. However, Rishi Sunak stresses that the government remains committed to achieving the binding targets to become climate neutral by 2050. /ritzau/