U.K.’s May Says Saving the Planet Doesn’t Have to Harm Economy

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May insisted it’s possible to cut pollution without harming economic growth after becoming the first leader of a Group of Seven nation to set a target for net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The comments, made in an interview with Christiana Figueres, the former United Nations climate change chief, set May up for a clash with Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond after he raised concerns about the costs of the new goal.

“There’s an argument that can be made that you can reduce emissions or you can have higher economic growth. Actually you don’t have to choose between those,” May said on Figueres’ Outrage and Optimism podcast. “What we’ve shown here in the U.K. over the past few years is precisely that.”

May announced last week that the U.K. will adopt laws that require a cut in net emissions from fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases to zero by 2050. The move, recommended by the government’s Committee on Climate Change, won backing from across the political spectrum.

But Hammond raised concerns about the cost, writing in a letter to May that it would cost taxpayers 1 trillion pounds ($1.3 trillion) at the expense of investment in schools, police, hospitals and other public spending, according to a person familiar with the matter.

While the Treasury supports the emissions reduction target, it wants a review before the final decision is made, the person said.

May said she was inspired to act by her holidays to the Swiss Alps, where she became concerned by a fast-retreating glacier.

“Over the last decade, more than a decade probably, we have seen the glaciers retreating at a pace that you would not normally expect glaciers to move,” she said. “That just says to me that there’s something that we need to do about what’s happening to our environment and what’s happening to our planet.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs

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