Growth must take priority over net zero targets, says City boss

THE chief executive of one of the City of London’s oldest wealth managers has urged Rishi Sunak to put net zero targets on the backburner in order to kickstart growth.

Paul Abberley, boss of Charles Stanley, told The Daily Telegraph that Britain “probably can’t have it both ways” when it comes to decarbonising the economy and stimulating growth.

He said: “There has to be some give and take. I just don’t think there’s enough capacity for carbon-neutral growth in the next five years to brighten the UK economy without new activity, which is adding to our carbon footprint.”

Mr Abberley said Britain needed investment in infrastructure and new homes, which would likely work against the emissions targets.

The UK has a legally binding target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through a combination of reduction and offsetting. There are also interim commitments to bring down emissions by 78pc by 2035.

At the same time, the Prime Minister has made stimulating economic growth one of his key priorities.

The UK is the only G7 economy that has not yet recovered to its prepandemic size and is only expected to narrowly avoid a recession this year. “There seems to be a general view that on the one hand, we do want economic growth. At the same time, we want that economic growth to be consistent with the path to net zero.

“Whether there is enough of those types of fully aligned initiatives to deliver strong economic growth, I think is something one can question.”

He called for a “deeper conversation” about the immediate trade-offs between growth and moving towards net zero.

Mr Abberley said: “There could usefully be a richer conversation about the size and type of economic growth we want to deliver.”

Stimulating economic growth is “a bit more complicated today than it was in the past 20 years in the sense that we are clearly going into a de-globalisation phase,” he added.

Charles Stanley, which was established in 1792, manages £27bn on behalf of clients.

It was bought by US wealth manager Raymond James in 2021.