Has economic crisis put net-zero plans on the backburner?
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The UK has pledged to reach net-zero by 2050. But has a pandemic, the fallout from the war in Ukraine and now an economic crisis derailed our plans to decarbonise? Or have they provided an inflexion point, accelerating necessary change? With the energy crisis has come a renewed emphasis on security of supply. Does that bind us more firmly to fossil fuels - or spur the transition to cleaner fuels and new technology? And has a cost of living crisis been a catalyst for change in consumer and corporate behaviour - or made going green seem unaffordable and less of a priority? Dharshini David speaks to policymakers, business leaders and experts and asks whether the economy, or political will, is the main driver in reaching net zero.
Presenter: Dharshini David Producer: Caroline Bayley Editor: Clare Fordham
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
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| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:42.0 | Hello and thanks for listening to the Analysis Podcast. podcasts. and I've been looking at how the painful squeeze on our fortunes and an energy crisis is impacting our journey to net zero. |
| 0:58.0 | I've been visiting major businesses engaging the view of experts. |
| 1:03.0 | We're not short on ideas and a recent review urged the government to take a bolder approach. |
| 1:09.0 | But in what the Prime Minister admits is tough financial times, how do we find the cash and motivation |
| 1:17.0 | to keep on track? |
| 1:19.1 | Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate |
| 1:27.3 | change. They are a reason to act faster. |
| 1:31.8 | Rishi Sunak speaking at the Global Climate Meeting at COP27 in Shamel Sheikh last November. |
| 1:38.6 | Renewable energy, the Prime Minister suggested, could ease many woes, bolster our energy security and |
| 1:45.3 | potentially reduce the financial and strategic firepower of gas and oil producers like |
| 1:51.1 | Russia while also boosting our chances in the battle towards |
| 1:55.3 | net zero. |
| 1:56.8 | We can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth. |
... |
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