Green Tories call for next PM to take urgent action to insulate homes

theguardian.com:

A leading group representing green-minded Conservatives has called for the new prime minister to take urgent action to insulate more homes and scale up the installation of heat pumps to help poorer households with energy bills.

The Conservative Environment Network (CEN), which has the support of 133 Tory MPs, half the backbench parliamentary party, said its plan could be rolled out in parallel with measures to directly help with this winter’s fuel costs and would help move the UK towards its net zero goals, as well as saving people money.

The CEN’s intervention marks the latest stage in a fightback by environmental Tories amid signs the race to replace Boris Johnson could lead to green measures being rolled back, and greater weight given to the voices of MPs opposed to such policies.

Liz Truss, the clear favourite to become the next prime minister, has criticised the installation of solar farms on formerly agricultural land, and says she supports efforts to extract shale gas by fracking in areas where it has local support.

Her rival in the contest, Rishi Sunak, has pledged to tighten a de facto ban on planning permission for new onshore wind schemes.

The push against green measures has been led by Tory MPs and peers from the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, a relatively new body that argues against many environmental policies on the basis of the cost of living and energy security.

The CEN’s proposals, billed by the organisation as “practical, industry-led solutions that the government could swiftly introduce”, would cost a total of £9bn over the next eight years, it said, notably less than what had already been committed to assist with energy bills.

This would include a rapid expansion of an energy industry-led scheme to insulate