Conservative Party policy document contains net zero cost error

The UK Conservative Party has published a policy document, titled ‘The Right Way’, which contains a significant error regarding the projected costs of achieving net zero carbon emissions. The document claimed that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimated the cost of reaching net zero at approximately £957 billion.

However, investigations revealed that this figure was nearly double the actual 2020 estimate provided by the CCC. The error appears to have resulted from a spreadsheet blunder where a staffer double-counted figures by adding both the individual sectoral costs and the row containing the totals. The actual 2020 estimate from the CCC was £478 billion.

The document, produced ahead of the party conference, uses these figures to justify the party's stance on potentially scrapping the 2050 net zero target. The erroneous figure was also reportedly included in publications by the Institute of Economic Affairs and The Spectator.