Liz Truss has won the Conservative leadership contest and, with it, the position of UK prime minister
New UK PM deprioritises climate
Leadership campaign and recent appointment of a climate-change sceptic to lead on energy brief indicate a potential deceleration of the energy transition
Throughout an acrimonious Conservative party leadership campaign, eventual winner and new UK prime minister Liz Truss made it clear that climate would be a low priority for her compared with energy security and soaring consumer bills. Truss signed a pledge by lobby group Conservative Environment Network early in the leadership contest to affirm her commitment to meeting the UK’s net-zero target. The pledge also included subclauses supporting an expansion of renewables, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and home insulation. But her actual leadership campaign—aimed at winning votes among a more right-wing base within her party—took aim at a variety of domestic climate policies, from the
Also in this section
28 March 2025
The massive expansion of the Northern Lights project in Norway is the clearest sign yet that the European oil and gas companies mean business when it comes to CCS
27 March 2025
Awards celebrate global innovation, leadership and achievement across the energy sector’s people, projects, technologies and companies.
20 March 2025
While advanced economies debate peak fossil fuel demand, billions of people still lack access to reliable and affordable energy, especially in the Global South
14 March 2025
Ignoring questions of sustainability will not make the problems they focus on go away
