# Scrap the legally binding net zero target

> “All of this is why my Conservative Party has pledged to scrap the carbon tax — the biggest green levy — and scrap the legally binding target for Net Zero by 2050.”
>
> — Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Opposition, Conservative Party; Article for The Sun, republished on her website, 18 August 2026

- **Status:** Promised
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Housing & environment](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/housing-and-environment)
- **Speaker:** [Kemi Badenoch](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/kemi-badenoch), Leader of the Opposition
- **Party:** [Conservative Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/conservatives)
- **Made on:** 18 August 2026
- **Where:** Article for The Sun, republished on her website
- **Cost a year:** No costing published
- **Who it affects:** Everyone in the UK; the target binds the government to cut net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050
- **When:** Not stated
- **Paid for by:** Not stated when it was announced
- **Quote source:** https://www.kemibadenoch.org.uk/news/kemi-badenoch-mp-net-zero-has-failed-and-made-your-electricity-more-expensive-heres-my-plan (checked word for word at its source on 20 October 2026; Quoted for reporting; rights stay with the publisher)
- **Last updated:** 20 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-con-net-zero-target-scrap-2026

## Where it stands

The Conservatives are not in government, so the card stays at Promised. The target of net zero by 2050 is set in law by the Climate Change Act 2008, as amended in 2019. Scrapping the carbon tax, the other half of the sentence, is part of the party's cheap power plan, which has its own card.

## Timeline

- 18 August 2026, Promised: Kemi Badenoch writes that the Conservatives have pledged to scrap the carbon tax and the legally binding target for net zero by 2050

## About the cost

No cost has been published.

## Sources

- [Kemi Badenoch: Net Zero has failed and made your electricity more expensive. Here's my plan (18 Aug 2026, first published in The Sun)](https://www.kemibadenoch.org.uk/news/kemi-badenoch-mp-net-zero-has-failed-and-made-your-electricity-more-expensive-heres-my-plan)
- [Climate Change Act 2008, section 1 (the net zero target)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/section/1)

## Checks

- Checked automatically by AI Journalist, not yet verified by an editor.
- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 20 October 2026.

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