Business leaders and scientists have lined up to condemn a pledge by the UK’s conservative party to scrap the country’s climate change act if it were to return to government.

Yesterday the party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, announced the move adding: “We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country.

“Climate change is real. But Labour’s laws tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions. Previous Conservative governments tried to make Labour’s climate laws work – they don’t.

“Under my leadership, we will scrap those failed targets. Our priority now is growth, cheaper energy and protecting the natural landscapes we all love.”

However the announcement has been roundly condemned.

CBI CEO Rain Newton-Smith said: “The scientific reality of climate change makes action from both government and business imperative. Scrapping the Climate Change Act would be a backwards step in achieving our shared objectives of reaching economic growth, boosting energy security, protecting our environment and making life healthier for future generations.

“The Climate Act has been the bedrock for investment flowing into the UK and shows that decarbonisation and economic growth are not a zero-sum game. Businesses delivering the energy transition added £83bn to the economy last year alone, providing high-paying jobs to almost a million people across the UK. The UK’s climate governance and the cross-party consensus that has underpinned it has shaped long-term contracts to deliver renewable energy, investment in green technologies and our international leadership in decarbonisation.

“We can debate the pace of transition and how it’s achieved to ensure that decarbonisation does not come at the expense of critical industries. But fundamentally ripping up the framework that’s given investors confidence that the UK is serious about sustainable growth through a low-carbon future would damage our economy.”

Scientists have also decried the move.

Professor Myles Allen, Head of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, said: “We need a conversation about how to stop climate change: perhaps the Climate Change Act, designed almost 20 years ago, needs updating, just as the NHS, designed almost 80 years ago, needs updating. But you wouldn’t announce you were going to scrap the NHS without explaining what you were going to replace it with. The Conservatives assure us they support action on climate change and believe in safeguarding our environment for future generations: so, if they are planning to scrap the Climate Change Act, what would they replace it with?”

“The striking fact is how few UK businesses support scrapping the Climate Change Act,” added professor Michael Grubb, professor of International Energy and Climate Change, University College London (UCL). “The reason is simple.  Business knows that climate change is a real and pressing problem; that the future lies in low carbon energy and related innovation; and business values clarity and certainty within a firm legal framework.  Scrapping a far-sighted Act, that was passed with huge bipartisan consensus, opposes all those realities.”

Professor Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of Geophysical Hazards, UCL, said: “Repealing the Climate Change Act at the height of the climate emergency is nothing less than insane. Moreover, it reveals the complete ignorance of Badenoch and the Tory party in respect of the science. Our world is heading to hell in a hand cart, with extreme weather projected to cost more than one third of current global GDP by 2050, and societal collapse a real threat. And Badenoch and her party seem determined to help this along”.

Professor Stuart Haszeldine, professor of Carbon Capture and Storage, University of Edinburgh, warned: “Conservative plans to focus on fossil fuel energy extraction and use will not only result in much higher fossil fuel prices as the UK imports gas and oil from unstable regimes globally, but will vaporise the billions of pounds from multinational companies invested and pledged to UK industrial growth during the past 12 months. That will cause a terminal loss of confidence in UK stability for global investment in industry and globally. Simple historical records show that North Sea hydrocarbon production has declined since the early 2000s.

“Citing China as an example of not following the UK lead shows an ignorance that China has built more solar PV and installed more wind power than any other country in the world. And that China CO2 emissions have flatlined since 2022, and will trend downwards to reach Net Zero by 2060, almost identical to the UK. China does not have an energy price crisis, nor is it “blessed” with febrile Conservative and Reform arithmetic, but has instead committed to evidence based actions which historically have overdelivered to curb climate change.

“The Climate Change Act has proven to be a stable legal foundation, providing what companies continually seek, a stable pathway into the investment future. To shred this foundation of the past 20 years will remove the UK from being best global location for future energy innovation. Instead the UK will de-industrialise as higher carbon prices are imposed by our trading neighbours. Instead of “bringing energy back home” The UK will choose to “forever walk alone”.