Kemi Badenoch has joined politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in telling us that net zero is too expensive. Although she does not offer a figure for the costs of failing to limit climate breakdown, for which the huge economic losses will likely be the least of our problems.

However, a brief look at what we have achieved so far may guide us on the economic feasibility of achieving net zero. UK emissions have fallen every year for the past two decades apart from brief rebounds after the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The year 1990 is used as the benchmark for measuring our emissions against, and in the 35 years since 1990, our emissions have fallen by 54% on 1990 levels, with 25 years remaining to get as close to zero as possible by 2050.

Last year, the UK’s electricity was the cleanest ever according to Carbon Brief, based on government energy data. Over the last decade, renewable generation has more than doubled, while the UK has halved the amount of electricity coming from burning fossil fuels. Having eliminated coal, gas for generating electricity fell by 13% in 2024.

Investment in renewables is mostly funded by private companies, for example, the German company RWE is investing in one of the world’s largest windfarms 80 miles off our northeast coast. It will power more than a million British homes by the end of the year. The turbines are being manufactured in Hull, boosting jobs and the local economy.

Fuel consumption for road transport has reduced by 14% since 2019 with the growing number of electric cars and fuel efficiency improvements. New car registrations show that in February a quarter of all new cars were electric, increasing to a third if you include plug-in hybrids.

The reduction in the carbon intensity of electricity means that an electric vehicle now has lifecycle CO2 savings of 70% over a petrol car; this includes emissions from manufacturing the car and battery.

Most of the investment in electric vehicles comes from industry, while drivers of EVs saved an average of £800 in 2024 relative to the cost of driving petrol or diesel vehicles, saving £1.7bn in total.

While the UK’s emissions have fallen since 1990, the size of its economy has nearly doubled. This is important as it means we have decoupled economic growth from emissions. In the period since 1990 when emissions fell by 54%, GDP grew by 84%.

Last year, the UK’s economy grew by less than 1%. In contrast the net zero economy grew by 10% and added £83bn to national income. The head of the CBI has responded: “Now is not the time to step back from the opportunities of the green economy.”

While politicians may falsely blame net zero for a flagging economy, delaying action on net zero will only increase both the economic and human costs of climate breakdown. Fortunately, 142 countries representing more than 80% of the world’s population are pursuing net zero targets.