Burnham recommits to net zero. Is there a plan behind the pledge?

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

My verdict: Too early to judge. Local ownership is the right approach, and the £30m is billed as the first payment on a £1bn programme. The Rosebank and Jackdaw decisions and the Budget will show whether the pledge has a plan behind it.

What happened

Writing in the Guardian, Andy Burnham said the UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050. He said Britons can no longer think of climate change as something happening elsewhere. Alongside it, the government announced £30m for "People's Power" projects, delivered through Great British Energy, to help communities build and own local clean energy. Burnham called it a downpayment on a £1bn programme.

Over the summer he was criticised for a muted response to heatwaves, drought and wildfires. The Conservatives and Reform UK have both rejected the net zero target. A decision on the Jackdaw gas field, which had seemed imminent, has been delayed until later this autumn.

What's really going on

Net zero has become one of the sharpest dividing lines in British politics, and Burnham is picking a side while bills are high and the Budget is tight. His argument is that home-grown renewables are the only lasting way to bring bills down, and that local ownership makes people more willing to accept new infrastructure near them.

Two decisions will show whether the pledge has teeth. The first is whether the government approves the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, which the Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is weighing. The second is what the 28 October Budget does about the policy levies that sit mostly on electricity bills and make going electric more expensive.

The strongest case on each side

For Burnham's approach

Local ownership wins consent. People accept a turbine or solar farm more readily when they share in the benefit.
Home-grown power cuts exposure to global gas prices, the same shock that is squeezing this year's Budget.
A clear commitment gives investors in grids and generation the long-term signal they ask for.

Against, or not enough

At £30m, the first payment is under half of one per cent of the £8.3bn for Great British Energy and its nuclear sister company.
The money is repackaged. Great British Energy already had community energy plans before Burnham became Prime Minister.
Opponents argue the costs land on households now while the benefits arrive later, when people are already stretched.

My verdict: too early to judge

I agree with the commitment, and local ownership is the right way to build support for new infrastructure. But the government hasn't said when the rest of the £1bn arrives, and a pledge in a newspaper is easier than the decisions coming up.

On Rosebank and Jackdaw, I'd be fair both ways. Approving them isn't automatically at odds with net zero, because the UK will use gas for years and domestic supply can replace imports.

But a number of Labour MPs say approval would tell voters the government isn't serious about climate. Whatever the answer, it should come with an explanation of how it fits 2050.

What I'd do instead

Keep the commitment, but back it with rules and decisions rather than one-off grants. Three steps.

Extend bill discounts from pylons to wind and solar farms, and offer a stake

Households near new pylons will get £250 a year off their bills for ten years. The same principle should apply to new generation, with ownership on offer as well as a discount.

How it would work: Every new onshore wind farm or large solar project offers nearby households a bill discount, plus the chance to buy a share of the project. The People's Power fund would help communities pay for their stake.
Why ownership: KPMG found most people who would object to a wind farm nearby would still object if offered up to £250 a year off their bills. A share in the profits gives them a reason to want it built.
Tried before?: Scotland has long asked wind developers to pay £5,000 per megawatt each year into community funds. Denmark required developers to offer local people a share of new turbines for more than a decade.
What it costs: Developers pay, and pass some of it on through the prices they bid in government auctions, so a little lands on everyone's bills. The pylon discount already works this way.

Finish the job on energy levies

Last November's Budget moved three-quarters of one old subsidy, the Renewables Obligation, onto taxation for three years and scrapped the ECO scheme. The government says that cuts typical bills by around £150.

The problem: Total environmental levies are still forecast to rise from £14bn to £19bn by 2030-31. Most sit on electricity, which makes heat pumps and electric cars cost more to run than they should.
How it would work: Make the Renewables Obligation shift permanent rather than letting it end in 2029, and publish a timetable for moving more policy costs off electricity bills.
What it costs: The Budget costings put the current shift at about £2.3bn a year, £6.9bn over three years. Going further costs more, paid through taxes or by moving costs onto gas bills.
The risk: Moving costs onto gas hits households that can't easily switch, often poorer families in older homes. Any shift needs protection for them built in.

Decide Rosebank and Jackdaw in public

Whatever the answer, publish the reasoning against the 2050 target, not just the decision.

How it would work: Publish the full emissions assessment, including emissions from burning the oil and gas, which the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 must be considered. Show how production fits the carbon budgets and what happens to North Sea jobs.
Background: Both fields have been through the courts already. Scotland's Court of Session overturned their original consents in January 2025.
What it costs: Nothing beyond analysis the government has to do anyway.
The risk: A fully published case gives opponents more to challenge in court, whichever way the decision goes.

The trade-off

Moving more levies onto taxation isn't cheap, in the same Budget where the Conservatives want tax rises ruled out. The government can't do both without saying what gives.

How we'd know it worked

Fewer planning objections to new wind and solar, and a heat pump that costs less to run than a gas boiler in a typical home.

What to watch

The Rosebank and Jackdaw decisions, and whether they come with a net zero explanation.
Whether the 28 October Budget touches energy bill levies.
The Climate Change Committee's next progress report.

Two Governments: Climate