The Climate Change Committee report to Parliament has found that the UK’s net zero transition is not on track to reach current targets, with new fossil fuel projects actively detrimental to reaching targets
The Progress 2023 report from the Climate Change Committee has found that with few exceptions, the UK is failing to make progress on net zero transition on nearly every measure.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008 and advises the government on actions and policy relating to climate change.
The most recent report has found that the UK has fallen behind on leading climate change actions on the international stage, as planned airport expansions and new fossil fuel energy developments are in direct opposition to longstanding recommendations.
A lack of coherent guidance and support means people are still living high-carbon lifestyles, as resources such as electric vehicle charging remains expensive and quality public transport intermittently accessible across the country.
Policy framework is not developing at the required speed
Key findings from the CCC report include:
- The Government must stick to existing commitments and actually deliver, as soon as possible
- Take immediate action on the emissions pathway
- Radically reform planning policy to ensure all developments must prioritise net zero
- Develop demand-side and land use policies that do not over-rely on specific technological solutions, as is the case currently
- Implement a framework to manage airport capacity
- Retake a clear leadership role internationally in tackling climate change
- Drive new low-carbon industries, whilst moving away from high-carbon developments, as expansion of fossil fuel production is not conducive to the net zero transition
- Despite some positive steps to provide households with advice on reducing energy use in the last year, a coherent public engagement strategy on climate action is long overdue
“This is not a report that suggests satisfactory progress.”
Outgoing chair of the CCC, Lord Deben(secretary of state for the environment from 1993-97), said that the UK had done “a number of things” that were “utterly unacceptable”.
He said that despite the governemnt’s recent push on carbon capture technology, the committee’s confidence that the government would meet its shorter-term carbon-cutting goals by 2030 was lower than last year, as the UK has “We’ve “slipped behind, and other people have moved ahead…This is not a report that suggests satisfactory progress.”
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said more succinctly: “There’s almost no progress in this progress report, just a pitiful catalogue of Rishi Sunak’s climate failures.”
For construction, progress is similarly slim to none
As the promised future homes standard is yet to be brought into effect, housing energy efficiency improvements are far behind where they should ideally be.
Boiler companies and households are still awaiting a decision on using hydrogen for home heating, leaving the market in limbo.
This also means new homes built today will require retrofitting in the future to meet net zero. Current homes are falling behind as well, as the number of homes receiving energy efficiency improvements under the government’s Energy Company Obligation scheme more than halved, from 383,700 in 2021 to 159,600 in 2022.
At least 1m to 2m homes should be upgraded each year to meet net zero, according to the report.
Transport and heavy industries have no clear decarbonisation policies in place, as the government has “made a political choice” to allow an increase in road traffic, instead of encouraging people on to public transport.
Chris Stark, chief executive of the CCC, said: “What’s missing is the kind of political leadership. You’ve got a series of strings being pushed across government and no one at the top pulling it up to raise it to the political priority that is required. Until that happens, this programme [of reaching net zero] is going to run into the sand.”
Industry voices have called on the government to prioritise the net zero transition
Both the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) the Institution of Civil Engineers have echoed the CCC’s call for the Government to return net zero to ‘top billing’ and prioritise progress over perfection.
Ruth Herbert, chief executive at the CCSA, said:
“This report makes clear that the UK must get moving and accelerate deployment of CCUS to have any chance of reaching our net zero targets. The CCC spell out that there is currently no clear policy for UK industries to decarbonise. CCUS offers an opportunity to decarbonise heavy industry, while protecting and creating jobs.
“We urgently need a CCUS deployment plan for the whole of the UK. We’re still waiting for contracts to be signed for the first eight carbon capture projects, and for ministers to confirm the next steps on expanding the clusters on the east coast and north west of England, as well as a timeline for selecting further clusters in other parts of the UK, which is necessary to meet the Government’s ambition of four CCUS clusters by 2030.”
Long-term thinking is necessary for a successful net zero transition
Institution of Civil Engineers director of policy Chris Richards said:
“It is alarming, but sadly not surprising that the latest Climate Change Committee’s report says there is an overall lack of urgency from the UK Government to deliver the net zero transition.
“The Government seems to view net zero decisions as unviable expenditure because of the cost-of-living crisis, but in the long run, putting off investment in the transition to net zero will cost the public and businesses more, while delaying the financial benefits of a net zero system that will be cheaper to run.
“Infrastructure professionals are keen to be part of the solution. They’re leading the way by creating new industry standards for managing carbon in the built environment, and suggesting more joined-up, strategic decision making across the sector.
“But to implement ideas and make progress, the profession needs clear direction from Government.
“If the Government isn’t prioritising decisions with the future in mind, who does it think will?”
You can read the Climate Change Committee report in full here.
