Tony Blair blows a hole in Ed Miliband’s net-zero plans

Sir Tony Blair has warned that plans to reach net zero carbon emissions by stopping the use of fossil fuels are “doomed to fail”.

The former Prime Minister urged countries around the world instead to focus instead on using new technology to expand the availability of green energy.

He also argued that voters in developed countries were rejecting climate change policies because of the cost to their pocket and lifestyle.

Blair’s intervention ignited a political row, with both the Tories and Reform using it as an opportunity to attack Labour’s net-zero plans.

Andrew Bowie, the Conservatives’ shadow Energy Secretary, said: “It seems even Tony Blair has come to the realisation that Keir Starmer and the Labour party’s mad dash to net zero by 2050 is simply not feasible, or sustainable.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “Even Tony Blair now says the push for net zero has become ‘irrational’ and ‘hysterical’. We are winning the argument!”

However, Blair did not specifically criticise the UK and the Tony Blair Institute later clarified to The i Paper that he supports net zero by 2050.

Nevertheless, it represents the most public rift yet between the ex-Labour leader and his successor, Sir Keir Starmer, who regularly consults him for advice.

Government insiders insisted that the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband agree with Blair about the need to forge ahead with technologies such as carbon capture and small nuclear reactors.

Blair used a foreword to a new report by his think-tank to urge a global rethink of how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He warned that the use of steel and cement was set to rise, along with demand for air travel, with the developing world rather than rich countries mostly responsible for pushing up CO2 usage as they modernise.

“Though action by the developed world is still vital, by 2030 almost two-thirds of global emissions will come from China, India and South-East Asia,” Blair said. “Yet the global financial flows for renewable energy in the developing world have fallen and not risen in the past few years.

“These are the inconvenient facts, which mean that any strategy based on either ‘phasing out’ fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail.”

He dismissed efforts to call for the elimination of oil, gas and coal from the world’s economies, adding: “We should put carbon capture – directly removing carbon as well as capturing it at source – at the centre of the battle.”

His argument that phasing out fossil fuels is “doomed to fail” is based on the growing consumption by India and China.

“In 2024 China initiated construction on 95 gigawatts of new coal-fired energy,” he wrote, “which is almost as much as the total current energy output from coal of all of Europe put together. Meanwhile, India recently announced they had reached the milestone of 1 billion tonnes of coal production in a single year.

He added: “Voters feel they’re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal.”

The report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change did not criticise governments for aiming to hit net zero by a certain date. It said: “National net-zero targets remain crucial for giving businesses the certainty they need to invest in the development of new clean solutions and drive the innovation and competition that will bring their costs down.”

One of the UK Government’s five top “missions” is removing carbon dioxide from the electricity grid by 2030 as part of the overall 2050 net-zero goal.

Asked about the Blair report in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Miliband said: “I agree with a lot of what it says. It says that we should move ahead on carbon capture and storage, which the Government are doing. It says that we should move ahead on the role of artificial intelligence, which the Government are doing. It says that we should move ahead on nuclear, which the Government are doing.”

A No 10 spokesman said: “We will reach net zero in a way that treads lightly on people’s lives, not telling them how to live or behave.”

The Energy Secretary also dismissed suggestions that this week’s blackout showed it could be dangerous to rely on renewable energy. He told MPs: “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions about what happened. Let’s see what happened and the reasons for it and then let’s learn the lessons.”

The goal of reaching net zero emissions in the UK by 2050 was written in to law by Theresa May and strongly backed by Boris Johnson, although current Tory leader Kemi Badenoch now says it is impossible.

Some experts query whether carbon capture and storage will work as a way of removing emissions from the atmosphere, but supporters say it would allow the world to limit global warming without having to use less energy.