John Kerry warning to Liz Truss not to ‘jigger’ with climate change levies

Tory leadership contender backs 2050 net zero target but wants to suspend green tax

US president Joe Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry has warned Tory leadership contender Liz Truss not to “jigger” with the UK’s plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions by slashing green levies, which help to pay for the transition to clean energy.

Ms Truss has said that she backs the target of net zero by 2050, but wants to suspend levies, which add 8 per cent to energy bills, in order to do it “in a way that doesn’t harm people and businesses”.

But Mr Kerry said that any savings from tax giveaways would be massively outweighed by the cost of extreme weather if global warming was not reined in.