Campaign groups have warned that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham could be “sleepwalking” into a climate disaster unless he intervenes in a set of interlinked policy choices that they say threaten the UK's net zero goals.
In a letter to the prime minister, the campaigners said a series of potentially damaging decisions — on whether to expand drilling in the North Sea, plans for Heathrow, the future of electric vehicle support and the level of grants for heat pumps — are all pending with ministers and could together undermine the nation’s emissions reduction pathway.
They argued the combined effect of these choices would be worse than the sum of their parts, stressing that decisions on fossil fuel supply, aviation capacity, transport electrification and home heating must be made coherently if targets to decarbonise the economy are to remain within reach.
The groups urged both the prime minister and regional leaders, including Burnham, to use their political influence to ensure policies are aligned with climate commitments and to press ministers for clarity on the pending decisions. They said a failure to coordinate could leave local and national plans at odds and damage public confidence in the UK’s route to net zero.
Campaigners also highlighted the knock‑on effects of each decision: renewed oil development in the North Sea could lock in emissions, expansion of aviation capacity at Heathrow would add to long‑term carbon output, and insufficient support for electric vehicles and heat pumps could slow the transition away from petrol and fossil‑fuel heating.
Ministers face a series of consequential choices, the groups said, and their response will test whether political leaders can align short‑term economic and infrastructure decisions with longer‑term climate commitments. The campaigners called for urgent action to avoid policy drift that they warn would make achieving net zero considerably harder.