Sunak hits back over net-zero criticism

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended reforms of his government's steps toward reaching net-zero carbon emissions, after a policy leak led to him announcing them earlier than planned and receiving heavy criticism from across the political spectrum and industry.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's Today, Sunak said the United Kingdom's decarbonization targets were "more ambitious than pretty much any major economy in the world", adding that reforms including delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by five years were "absolutely not slowing down efforts to combat climate change".

He also rejected criticism from Chris Stark, chief executive of the UK's Climate Change Committee, who said the proposals made it "difficult to escape the idea we're not moving backward" on green policies, accusing Sunak of "wishful thinking".