Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the UK needs to build new gas-fired power stations to back up renewables and “keep the lights on”.

In 2019, the UK government made a commitment to cutting carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. In July 2022, it introduced new measures in the energy sector designed to boost green technologies, including extra support for the deployment of low-carbon technologies at scale such as carbon capture, usage and storage.

Following the announcement today, it seems there has been some back-pedalling. In what the UK energy secretary Clare Coutinho calls a “common-sense decision”, the government will now support the building of new gas power stations to maintain a safe and reliable energy source as the nation transitions to net zero.

The government claims this plan keeps the UK on track to meet its net zero targets but does so in a sustainable, pragmatic way that rids the UK of the need to rely on foreign dictators such as Vladimir Putin.

“We need to reach our 2035 goals...