Overview
- The Onward report published Tuesday, August 18, 2026, compares the government's net zero electricity pathway with a cheaper power alternative and estimates net zero would add about £320 billion in system costs between 2030 and 2050.
- Onward projects the cheaper pathway could reduce household energy costs by roughly £540 a year averaged across 2030–2050 and would keep power about 80% low‑carbon by 2050 according to Transira/Transpira modelling.
- Senior Conservatives including Kemi Badenoch and Claire Coutinho have used the analysis to argue for abandoning the 2050 net zero target and prioritising more gas and nuclear to lower bills and ease grid costs.
- Labour’s energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has rejected that shift, warning it would increase reliance on fossil fuels, expose Britain to global gas‑price volatility, and risk jobs in the clean energy sector.
- The report itself flags major trade‑offs: it models around 524 million tonnes more cumulative emissions, implies marginal removal costs above £600 per tonne for remaining unabated gas, and estimates a 250% gas‑price spike in 2040 would add about £6 billion to fuel costs, a set of findings that make policy choices and modelling assumptions the focus of the political fight and of differing media coverage.