Reform UK voters are the only political group without a majority in favour of achieving net zero by 2050 or sooner, according to a new survey.
The UK’s “sense of urgency” on achieving net zero and supporting climate policies has taken a drastic tumble, according to a new survey.
In 2019, the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming. The ambitious target legally binds the nation to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, compared with its previous target of at least an 80 per cent reduction from 1990 levels.
Under Conservative Theresa May’s leadership, the net zero target aimed to bolster the number of ‘green collar jobs’ to two million and grow the low-carbon economy to £170 billion (around €195.32 billion) a year by 2030.
How the UK’s net zero attitudes are shifting
In 2021, surveys found that 54 per cent of the British public believed the UK government should achieve net zero before the 2050 target. Now, this has fallen to just 29 per cent.
The study*, carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London, Ipsos and the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations also found that the proportion who feel the UK either doesn’t need to reach net zero by 2050 – or shouldn’t have a net zero target at all – has risen from nine per cent to 26 per cent over the same period.
Researchers warn that between 2024 and 2025, support for climate-driven policies such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, taxes on those who fly more, subsidies for electric vehicle (EV) purchases and a tax on environmentally damaging foods have all declined.
At the same time, opposition to some of these measures is now greater than support for them, marking a “stark reversal” of earlier attitudes.
Which political parties are most against net zero?
2024 Reform UK voters stand out as the only political group without a majority in favour of achieving net zero by 2050 or sooner. They were also the least likely to support a range of other climate policies, and the only group where under half say they’re worried about climate change.
Reform UK and Conservative voters have also seen the biggest swings in support towards slowing down action on climate change. Among 2024 Conservative voters, 49 per cent now favour a party that would slow action, compared with 39 per cent in 2024. Among Reform UK voters, this figure is now 68 per cent – up from 54 per cent.
Voters for the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour have remained “relatively consistent” in their preference for a party that takes strong action on climate change, the survey adds.
Despite the majority of all age groups still favouring net zero by 2050, the percentage of 16-34-year-olds backing the target has dropped from 59 per cent in 2021 to 37 per cent in 2050.
Older people have seen the sharpest increase in opposition, with 35 per cent now saying the target isn’t needed by 2050 – or at all. This is a 24 per cent spike compared to 2021.
But overall, the survey found that a significant majority (64 per cent) still believe the government’s target for net zero should be at least 2050, if not earlier.
The UK’s ‘culture war’ on net zero
“This research reveals a striking decline in the public's sense of urgency around climate action,” says Professor Bobby Duffy of the Policy Institute at King’s College London.
“The proportion who think we need to reach net zero sooner than 2050 has nearly halved since 2021, and support has fallen for every climate policy we've tracked over this period.”
Duffy argues that the urgency people feel and their willingness to support policies that might affect their daily lives or finances have faltered. He says this shift has happened as climate policy becomes “increasingly caught up” in wider culture war debates.
In fact, the British public is now more likely to see tension between climate sceptics and believers than between Brexit leave or remain voters.
“This is also reflected in an emerging political divide on this issue: Reform UK voters stand apart from all other groups, with just a quarter supporting net zero by 2050 or earlier, and less than half saying they're worried about climate change at all,” Duffy adds.
Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, says issues such as inflation, immigration and the National Health Service (NHS) have dominated the public’s daily concerns – stealing priority from climate change.
“This is reflected in support for individual climate policies too, especially where they involve harder trade-offs,” he adds.
Is the British media to blame?
The survey comes just months after a study found Britain’s most dominant media outlets were failing to “join the dots” between net zero and climate change.
An analysis commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) found that a growing number of articles in UK national newspapers focusing on net zero are omitting any reference to the climate crisis despite their inherent link.
Researchers argue their findings show a “divorcing” of climate change from the solution of preventing emissions from rising, and come amid low levels of understanding around what net zero actually means.
The analysis found that a year before the legislation was signed, 100 per cent of articles across nine major publications mentioning the term ‘net zero’ at least three times (including in the headline) also mentioned ‘climate change’ or similar terms such as ‘global warming’. However, by 2024, this figure had plummeted to just 59 per cent.
In 2024, 323 analysed articles mentioned the term net zero at least three times, including in the headline, but failed to reference climate change or similar terms.
Around half of these (166) were written by The Telegraph. In the same year, 88 articles mentioned the term net zero at least five times without linking it back to climate change. The Times had the lowest percentage of articles referencing climate change amongst broadsheet papers, at 64 per cent.
*The study was carried out in August 2025 and is based on a representative survey of 4,027 people aged 16 and over.
