Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch today ditched her party’s commitment to the UK’s flagship climate target in a speech hosted by an advertising group that works for Shell, DeSmog can reveal.

During her address, Badenoch suggested that we are “bankrupting ourselves” in the pursuit of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. She said that the country should still seek to reduce its climate impact, but shouldn’t set a date for achieving net zero.

Badenoch said that Britain has “the highest electricity bills in the developed world” – which is caused by expensive gas prices rather than the cost of renewables – and claimed that the UK is “only responsible for 1 percent of global emissions”. In reality, taking into account its colonial history, the UK is responsible for more than five times this figure.

The Tory leader, who has received recent donations from fossil fuel interests and climate science deniers, made her speech at the Havas Village in King’s Cross, London, and was introduced by H/Advisors CEO Neil Bennett.

H/Advisors is owned by Havas – one of the world’s largest public relations and advertising agencies, based in France. Bennett said he was “delighted” to welcome Badenoch to the Havas campus for her speech, to ensure the company stays “at the heart of public debate”.

In September 2023, news broke that Havas had won a major Shell advertising contract – a move condemned by climate campaigners.

Shell is still committed to exploring for new sources of oil and gas and does not have any plans to reduce the overall amount it produces by 2030. In 2021, the District Court of the Hague found that the total CO2 emissions of the Shell group exceeded the emissions of many states, including the Netherlands.

In August, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority watchdog began reviewing a Shell campaign produced by Havas that ran on UK television in the first half of the year. The campaign had prompted complaints that it painted a misleading picture of the Shell’s role in the energy transition.

In October 2023, Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré told Campaign that he had been happy to pitch for the Shell account, saying “we believe the most effective change comes from within.” 

“We won’t participate in any greenwashing whatsoever and we will accompany [Shell] and help achieve their transition,” Bolloré said.

In July 2024, four Havas agencies were stripped of their “B Corp” status for high environmental, ethical, and governance standards following complaints raised over the company’s Shell contract.

H/Advisors bid for Shell’s global public relations account last year, although the work eventually remained in the hands of Edelman.

Havas has worked with a number of fossil fuel clients in recent years, although the company had seemed on track to reduce its involvement with polluters, prior to the 2023 Shell contract.

The firm has worked in various capacities for BP, Kuwait Petroleum International, and TotalEnergies since 2019, while Imperial Oil and Gas was a H/Advisors client in 2023. 

“Let’s not forget that it was the Tories that legally enshrined the 2050 net zero target,” said Agustina Olivieri, Good Law Project head of digital communications, “but they never acted on this seriously – as Good Law Project helped to expose in successive High Court battles.

“And now with a nihilist in the White House and fossil fuel funding filling their coffers as their impetus, Badenoch’s party have spinelessly decided to drop it altogether.”

H/Advisors, Havas, and Shell were approached for comment.

Badenoch’s Climate Denial Ties

While serving in the last Conservative government, Badenoch described the 2050 net zero emissions target as “crucial”. However, her support for the policy has waned in more recent times.

The Tory premier, who was elected to the role in November, received funding and office space during her leadership campaign from Neil Record, chair of Net Zero Watch, the campaign arm of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) – the UK’s foremost climate science denial group.

Record – who is also lifetime president of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank that received funding from BP every year from 1967 to at least 2018 – in July wrote that achieving net zero by 2050 “will restrict our freedom, and is likely to be eye-wateringly expensive”. Record has donated to both the IEA and GWPF.

Over the past two decades, the Conservative Party has accepted £7.2 million from senior figures at the GWPF.

Badenoch also received £10,000 during her leadership campaign from House of Lords member Dambisa Moyo, who is a director at the fossil fuel giant Chevron.

A press release from the GWPF celebrated Badenoch’s statement today, saying that it could have been drafted by the group’s late founder Nigel Lawson “almost verbatim”.

Green groups were not so enthusiastic. “Today marks a dark day in the history of the Conservative Party,” said Ed Matthew, director of the UK programme for climate change think tank E3G. “By abandoning net zero by 2050, Badenoch has sold out the interests of the British people to the fossil fuel industry.

“This is an act of political cowardice and it will not fool the British people or British business, who strongly support ambition climate action. The price will be electoral oblivion.”