Andy Burnham has doubled down on Britain achieving Net Zero by 2050 as he warned that Britons must no longer believe the “climate crisis” does not affect them.
The Prime Minister said he was “acutely aware” of the “anxieties” felt by some after a warm summer as he unveiled almost £30million in taxpayer funding for community-led renewable energy projects.
He wrote in The Guardian: “The climate crisis is not a distant threat. It is here and with us now.
“I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach Net Zero by 2050.”
Mr Burnham added that he wanted to push the country to “believe in itself again”.
The Prime Minister’s declaration comes as Labour weighs up whether to approve new drilling projects in the North Sea amid mounting concerns that Britain may not meet its self-set climate targets.
If the plans for North Sea oil drilling are dropped, it could spark a major row with the White House.
Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Britain to open up offshore drilling, previously telling GB News he “cannot get the point across” enough.
The President previously suggested Mr Burnham had told him he was “going to open up North Sea oil” – a move the American leader said would transform Britain into a “a wealthy country”.
In his piece, the Prime Minister stopped short at mentioning his Government’s most ambitious climate goal – decarbonising the electricity grid by 2030.
Mr Burnham wrote: “Punishing heatwaves left nurses collapsing on hospital wards and bus drivers working in 40C cabs.
“Wildfires destroyed homes, leaving families with nothing. And more extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead.”
He continued: “The British people are no longer insulated from the consequences and they do not want to be excluded from the solutions.
Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Britain to open up offshore drilling, previously saying he ‘cannot get the point across’ enough
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“They are looking for ways to do their bit. Community energy gives them that chance.”
The Prime Minister insisted that the funding dished out to “people’s power projects” will give communities across Britain to chance to take the reins over their own clean energy supply.
He also claimed the projects were “the only lasting way to bring down bills is to produce more of our own clean, renewable energy at home”.
Eco-activist group Greenpeace UK has piled praise Mr Burnham’s intervention.
The group’s head of politics, Ami McCarthy, said: “The Prime Minister is right: the UK should feel determined to reach Net Zero by 2050 and the green transition is the rocket that will propel us there.
The Prime Minister insisted the funding dished out to ‘people’s power projects’ will empower communities across Britain
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“But why this Government is still dithering over Jackdaw and Rosebank – schemes that will bloat the profits of a few fossil fuel companies and not [help] bill payers – is a complete mystery.”
Mr Burnham’s announcement comes just days after a parliamentary committee urged ministers to drop the term “Net Zero” because it has become “a lightning rod for opposition to climate action”.
The phrase “has lost much of its significant positive association” and is becoming a distraction from the shift to green power, a report concluded.
The review – from the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee of cross-party MPs – is aimed at “reframing” the case for clean energy and building public support for the green transition.
The term “Net Zero” led to “stale debate” on emissions targets, it found.
Andy Burnham Doubles Down on Net Zero by 2050 as PM Declares ‘Climate Crisis Is Here’
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has reaffirmed his commitment to taking the United Kingdom to net zero emissions by 2050, placing climate policy firmly back at the centre of his government’s agenda.
In a major intervention, Burnham said he was determined to fulfil the Labour commitment to reach net zero by the middle of the century. His statement comes after a summer marked by extreme heat, wildfires and severe weather, while his government faces difficult questions about energy prices, industrial policy and the future of oil and gas production in the North Sea.
The Prime Minister’s intervention is significant because the political debate over net zero has become increasingly focused not only on the environmental consequences of climate change, but also on the economic cost of the transition.
Burnham is attempting to present the green transition as an economic project as well as an environmental one. He has argued that Britain can use the move towards cleaner energy to create jobs, encourage investment and rebuild industrial capacity in communities that have experienced decades of economic change.
His latest announcement includes almost £30 million in funding for community-led renewable energy projects. The programme is intended to give local communities a greater role in producing and controlling energy, with the government describing it as an initial stage of a much larger Great British Energy programme.
Burnham has said that the eventual programme could support more than 1,000 community energy projects across the United Kingdom.
The idea behind the policy is relatively straightforward. Instead of relying exclusively on large commercial energy companies or central government decisions, local communities would have greater involvement in projects involving technologies such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power.
For Burnham, this is part of a broader political philosophy centred on devolving power away from Westminster.
He has frequently argued that communities should have more control over decisions affecting their daily lives. In his latest climate intervention, that principle has been applied directly to energy production.
The Prime Minister has pointed to his record as mayor of Greater Manchester, where his administration pursued changes to public transport and introduced measures intended to make buses more affordable while reducing their environmental impact. He now wants to apply a similar model to the energy sector, with local people having a direct stake in clean-energy projects.
But the announcement comes at a complicated moment for Britain’s climate policy.
The government is attempting to reconcile three objectives that can sometimes pull in different directions: reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, keeping energy affordable and maintaining economic growth.
That tension is particularly visible in the debate over North Sea oil and gas.
Burnham’s government is under pressure over decisions concerning existing fossil-fuel projects, including the Rosebank and Jackdaw developments. Environmental campaigners have questioned whether approving new production would be consistent with the government’s wider climate commitments, while supporters of domestic oil and gas production have argued that Britain must consider energy security and economic consequences.
The issue illustrates the complexity of the net-zero debate.
Moving away from fossil fuels requires substantial investment in renewable generation, electricity networks, storage and other infrastructure. At the same time, Britain continues to require reliable energy supplies while the transition takes place.
The government therefore faces pressure from different directions.
Environmental organisations and some Labour MPs want faster action on climate change. Other political voices have criticised the cost of green policies and questioned whether the current approach could place additional pressure on household energy bills.
Reform UK and Conservative politicians have opposed the existing 2050 net-zero target, while supporters of the target argue that delaying the transition could increase Britain’s exposure to future climate and energy risks.
Burnham’s latest intervention therefore represents a clear attempt to establish the direction of his government.
Rather than retreating from the 2050 objective, he has explicitly reaffirmed it.
In his statement, Burnham argued that Britain needs to change how it travels, builds homes and produces energy. He also described the green transition as an opportunity for Britain to reindustrialise.
That economic argument is central to his approach.
For decades, environmental policy has sometimes been presented primarily in terms of restrictions: reducing emissions, changing consumption patterns and limiting the use of fossil fuels.
Burnham is instead attempting to emphasise the investment side of the transition.
His argument is that cleaner energy could create employment, reduce some household costs over time and give communities greater control over energy infrastructure.
Whether those benefits can be delivered at the required scale remains an important question.
The government’s announcement of community energy funding is relatively modest compared with the size of Britain’s overall energy system. The country requires enormous investment in generation, transmission networks, storage and other infrastructure if it is to substantially reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
The political challenge is therefore not simply setting a 2050 target. It is demonstrating how that target can be achieved while maintaining affordable and reliable energy.
That question becomes particularly important when household finances are under pressure.
Critics of the government’s approach have argued that climate policies can increase costs for consumers, particularly if the transition is poorly designed or if infrastructure investment is passed directly or indirectly to households.
Supporters of net zero take a different view, arguing that renewable energy can reduce exposure to volatile fossil-fuel prices and that investment in domestic clean energy can strengthen the country’s long-term energy security.
The disagreement is therefore partly about timescale.
Policies that require significant investment today may be presented by their supporters as a way of reducing future costs and risks. Critics may instead focus on the immediate financial burden.
Burnham’s emphasis on community ownership appears designed to address that political problem.
If local people can see tangible benefits from renewable-energy projects, the government hopes that climate policy will feel less like a programme imposed from Westminster and more like an economic opportunity within individual communities.
This approach also fits with Burnham’s wider emphasis on devolution.
His government has repeatedly spoken about moving decision-making away from central government and towards regions and communities. Community energy provides a practical example of that philosophy because the people living in an area could potentially become participants in the production and ownership of energy.
The Prime Minister has linked this approach to his broader “No 10 North” agenda, presenting regional empowerment as an important element of his administration.
At the same time, Burnham’s climate policy faces scrutiny over whether his economic ambitions can coexist with fossil-fuel developments.
That tension is unlikely to disappear.
Britain still uses oil and gas extensively, while renewable-energy capacity is expanding. A transition cannot happen instantly, meaning policymakers must manage a period in which old and new energy systems operate alongside each other.
The decisions made during that period will have consequences for energy prices, industrial investment, employment and Britain’s emissions.
The climate debate has also become more immediate following the extreme weather experienced during the summer.
Burnham has pointed to heatwaves, wildfires and severe weather as evidence that climate change is no longer simply a distant environmental issue. Reports during the summer highlighted high temperatures and drought conditions in parts of England, alongside damaging fires.
His message is that climate policy must respond to conditions that are already affecting communities.
That framing represents a notable change in emphasis.
Instead of discussing climate change primarily as a problem that might affect future generations, Burnham is presenting it as a current issue requiring political action.
However, recognising the risks of climate change does not eliminate the practical difficulties of responding to them.
The government still needs to determine how quickly different sectors can decarbonise, who should pay for the transition and how Britain’s energy system can remain dependable.
Those questions will shape the political debate over the coming years.
Burnham’s reaffirmation of the 2050 target also comes as the language surrounding net zero itself faces renewed political debate. A cross-party committee has urged the government to consider abandoning the term “net zero”, arguing that it has become politically difficult to communicate. The government has rejected that approach, describing the proposal as a distraction from the need to address climate change and transition towards cleaner power.
For Burnham, however, the issue appears settled.
He has made clear that his government intends to retain the 2050 objective.
The more difficult question is what happens between now and then.
Achieving net zero would require major changes across transport, housing, industry and energy. It would also require sustained investment over many years and cooperation between central government, local authorities, businesses and communities.
Burnham’s community-energy programme is intended to demonstrate one possible route: allowing ordinary people to become participants rather than simply consumers in the energy transition.
Whether that approach can be expanded sufficiently to transform the national energy system remains to be seen.
What is clear is that the Prime Minister has chosen not to retreat from the UK’s existing 2050 commitment. Instead, he is attempting to redefine the transition as an opportunity for economic renewal, regional development and greater community control.
That strategy will now face scrutiny from both supporters and opponents of stronger climate action.
For environmental campaigners, the key question will be whether the government moves quickly enough to match its stated ambition. For critics of net zero, the focus will remain on affordability, energy security and the economic consequences of the transition.
For the government itself, the challenge is to demonstrate that these objectives can coexist.
Burnham has now put his position beyond doubt: his administration remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050. The next stage will be turning that commitment into policies capable of delivering cleaner energy without undermining household finances, industrial competitiveness or energy security.
The climate debate in Britain is therefore entering another important phase. The target has been reaffirmed. The harder political argument will concern how Britain gets there, who pays for the transformation and what ordinary communities receive in return.