Tony Blair’s intervention on Britain’s net zero ambitions just before the local elections has unsurprisingly caused consternation. His statement that net zero is “doomed to fail” aligns with the stance of Reform and the Conservative party and is surprising coming from the former leader of a party that made decarbonising Britain’s electricity by grid 2030 a key policy commitment.

Putting aside the timing of this statement, it is worth examining why Blair said what he did. His central tenet is that countries such as China, India and potentially much of Africa, are growing at such a rate that carbon emissions are going up rather than down despite attempts to mitigate them.