Last summer, Theresa May signed into law the U.K.’s ground-breaking target of hitting net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 against a backdrop of increasingly vocal Extinction Rebellion protests, school climate strikes, and Brexit-related political turmoil within the Conservative party.
It was one of the last acts of a beleaguered prime minister, under fire after a series of missteps and hemorrhaging support in party and country. Protesters lined the streets, businesses despaired at the lack of leadership and the government seemed to have little strategy for extricating the country from its immediate travails, let alone a viable long-term vision.