But then the 2008 financial crash came and the salience of climate change in people’s lives dropped off. A growing tideBefore we properly dig into why support for reaching net zero is going down, let’s spell out exactly what the study (pdf) says. The study found that just 29% of the public now say the UK should reach net zero before the government’s 2050 target. At the same time, the proportion who say the UK shouldn’t have a net zero target at all, has jumped from 9% to 26%. A weapon in the culture warThe falling support for net zero targets cannot be separated from a broader political shift taking place in the UK.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2026 14:18 UTC