CLIMATE campaigners have warned that a transition that swaps one form of profiteering for another cannot be accepted after the government committed today to an 87 per cent emissions cut by 2040.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband announced the plan, which will see heat pumps, electric cars and renewables rolled out across the country.

The reduction in greenhouse gases on 1990 levels is in line with advice from the independent Climate Change Committee.

The commitment comes amid increasing political division, with Reform UK and the Tories promising to ditch net-zero policies and back oil and gas drilling.

Mr Miliband said the drive for clean homegrown power was the “only way” to protect family and business finances, accusing opponents of sticking their heads in the sand.

The CCC has said meeting the target will require households to install heat pumps, switch to electric cars and eat less meat and dairy, but families could save £1,400 a year.

A CBI report this week showed that Britain’s net-zero economy supports 1.1 million workers and delivered £105 billion in economic value in 2025.

Mr Miliband said: “As Britain faces the second fossil fuel shock of the decade, the only way to protect family and business finances is to drive for clean homegrown power that we control.”

End Fuel Poverty co-ordinator Simon Francis said that the wars in Iran and Ukraine are a “reminder that as long as our homes run on gas, our bills will be set by decisions made in Riyadh, Moscow and Washington.”

“So while there is a cost to acting on climate change, the cost of not acting is even greater and is a cost already felt in energy bills,” he said.

“Staying on gas forever is not viable. Firms have already extracted 90 per cent of commercially viable gas from the North Sea while posting billions in profits, and import dependence will only rise as the basin ages.

“But we cannot accept a transition that simply swaps one form of profiteering for another.”

Mr Francis said that a move to clean energy “must not become a fresh opportunity for the market to extract profits from people who can least afford it.”

“The benefits of change must flow to households, not disappear into the pockets of energy giants,” he said.

He called for a Warm Homes Guarantee to ensure “real warmth and wellbeing outcomes, independent advice households can trust, strong rights and redress when things go wrong, and a measurable reduction in energy costs.”

Uplift executive director Tessa Khan said that with climate change “already disrupting lives across the UK,” the costs of inaction “will be enormous.”

“From flooding and extreme heat to rising food prices and water shortages, these impacts will only worsen unless politicians tackle the root causes, a key one being our dependence on fossil fuels,” she said.

“But oil and gas are not only driving climate breakdown. The cost-of-living crisis — high energy bills, rising food prices and the cost of filling up the car — are all being made worse by soaring oil and gas prices.

“That’s why accelerating the transition to renewables is just common sense now.”

Ms Khan hit back at some politicians who “still want to lock the UK into decades more oil and gas dependence, despite the fact every new drilling project deepens the climate crisis and does nothing to alleviate the many costs being borne by households.”

“New developments like Rosebank are not compatible with safe climate limits,” she said.

“It’s beyond time we take climate risks seriously and stop fuelling the crisis with new oil and gas drilling.”