The Tories leaked election votes to the left because of Rishi Sunak's watering down of green measures introduced by Boris Johnson, a new poll suggested today.
Climate change was one of the top three reasons Labour and Lib Dem voters gave for supporting the parties on July 4, above housing and crime.
And the analysis by More in Common found that even those who viewed it as less important also linked increasing generation of renewable energy to reducing the cost of living, the biggest factor driving voting at the election.
And in a sign of how green the country is, more than 70 per cent of those polled backed Labour's plans for GB Energy, a state-run company designed to fund the move to green power.
A majority of Tory and Reform voters (56 per cent and 59 per cent respectively) also said the state-run firm would be good for the country.
It came as green Tories urged whoever replaces Mr Sunak as permanent Conservative leader later this year tacks back towards leading on environmental measures.
The Tories lost more than 30 seats to the Liberal Democrats in the so-called Blue Wall heartlands in the south, and also came second in Waveney Valley in Cambridgeshire behind the Greens.
Sam Hall, director of the Conservative Environment Network, said the election result had been 'devastating and painful' and the party needed to work out where it had gone wrong.
'A breakdown of trust, a lack of competence, and, particularly for Reform voters, a failure to reduce immigration are the key reasons for defeat. But this election has also reconfirmed the electoral limits of Net Zero row-backs,' he said.
'In pursuit of winning back Reform voters, the Conservative campaign undermined and undersold the party's environmental record, which should have been an electoral asset.
'But this failed to move the dial. The victories in the Conservatives' rural heartlands by the Greens and Lib Dems with strong environmental messages shows the broad appeal of green policies.
'If the Conservatives want to rebuild trust with voters and get back to a winning position by 2029, we must champion the environment and put forward a positive conservative agenda to tackle climate change and restore nature.'
Mr Sunak campaigned at the election on a platform of trying to make the UK net zero in carbon emissions by 2050, but refusing to do anything that might increase the cost for families.
But critics said that slowing down the drive would only mean costs went up further down the line.
Just six per cent of those polled by MiC for green think tank E3G believed that slowing down the green push was one of Mr Sunak's biggest achievements, with 11 per cent saying it was among his biggest mistakes.
Last month former energy secretary Claire Coutinho said Labour's mission to hit net zero carbon emissions in Britain's energy supply by 2030 was 'unrealistic' and risks plunging the country into darkness.
She attacked Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to fast-track wind and solar power projects in order to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels within six years for failing to account for Britain's readiness to make the switch.
She said the plan to aim for net zero energy emissions - putting out no more carbon than is being captured - five years ahead of the Tories was too fast, without the capacity to cope with days where 'the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine'.
But the Labour government has already ripped up planning rules with the specific aim of making it easier to build windfarms in the countryside.
Luke Tryl, executive director at More in Common, said: 'Climate was an important issue for a small but key group of voters at this election.
'But even beyond those who shifted away from the Conservatives on climate specifically, the election was fought over the cost of living, and Labour's policy on GB Energy helped them win the argument that they would be the best party to reduce bills and leave people feeling better off.
'At the same time, Sunak's reversals on the country's climate targets simply weakened the Conservative brand, making the Prime Minister look inconsistent, unable to deliver on his pledges, and unserious about climate change something that made voters worry for their children and grandchildren's future.'
And E3G's Ed Matthew added: 'The overwhelming majority of British people want more clean energy, to tackle climate change and lower their energy bills. By backing high cost fossil fuels over cheaper renewables, Rishi Sunak lost the confidence of middle England over tackling the cost of living crisis, bleeding votes to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. At the same time it did almost nothing to appeal to likely Reform voters. It was a catastrophic misjudgement.'
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