Political elites are out of step with the public appetite for net zero, according to analysis that identifies rightwing media narratives as fuelling a false backlash against climate action.
Media coverage of net zero is more than twice as likely to be negative than public attitudes and is driving a false perception that net zero policies are unpopular with voters, the analysis found.
This echo chamber of elite opinion, the analysis says, has led to a situation where MPs significantly underestimate public support for climate policies and overestimate public opposition to local clean energy infrastructure projects.
Becca Massey-Chase, the head of citizen engagement at the Institute for Public Policy Research, who coauthored the analysis, said the research showed claims of a voter backlash against net zero were “largely a political myth”.
She said: “The British public continues to support climate action, and politicians risk fighting the wrong battle if they assume otherwise. The real danger is not public opinion – it is elite division and media narratives creating a false sense of risk.”
The analysis, jointly prepared by the IPPR, a progressive thinktank, and Persuasion UK, a non-profit that researches influences on public opinion, noted that the UK’s increasingly assertive far right caricatured net zero as a threat to UK sovereignty.
At the same time, a general association with progressive cultural politics sorts it into a category of “woke” issues such as immigration and gender that are instinctively and reflexively mistrusted by those on the political right, who deride net zero as incompatible with cheap energy and an example of large-scale political planning.
Politicians with Reform UK and the Conservative party have constructed a claim to voters that their opposition is on the side of ordinary voters against a distrusted elite.
“The success of a populist message around Brexit, plus significant financial backing from the fossil fuel industry and climate sceptics, makes this an appealing topic and approach for those on the right of UK politics,” the analysis says.
Nevertheless, polling shows that despite the attitudes of politicians and relentless rhetoric against it, a strong core of 40% of voters remain strongly behind net zero, almost double the 24% who are implacably opposed to it.
“The public still cares about protecting themselves and their children from the impacts of climate change,” said Sam Alvis, an associate director of environment and energy security at the IPPR. “In the face of these constant attacks, policymakers must focus on making clean energy choices simple, affordable and part of everyday life.”
