Current government commitments cover less than half of the greenhouse gas reduction target approved by Parliament, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned in its latest annual progress report.
The report by the statutory climate change advisor, published today (24 June), hails “historic” climate pledges made by the government in the past year.
These include the adoption of the sixth carbon budget, which caps UK emissions at 78 per cent of 1990 levels by the mid-2030s.
However, while these moves have aligned the government’s ambitions more closely with reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, progress on setting out policies is not keeping pace, says the CCC.
The report says that only one-fifth of the emissions savings for the sixth carbon budget, which spans 2033 to 2037, have “credible” policies “potentially on track” for full delivery, such as renewable electricity generation.
Areas in which policy is in “danger of falling behind”, due to lack of detail, cover another three-fifths of the emissions reduction required to 2035.
And “major policy gaps” still exist for the remaining one-fifth of required emissions reductions, such as tackling emissions from waste incineration.
Current government commitments cover less than half of the greenhouse gas reductions required to 2035.
“The government has made significant commitments, but there are still important gaps in ambition”, the report says.
Effective policies must be developed at a greater pace and the government must lead with “more urgency than we have seen so far”, the committee warns.
Many “vital and long-promised plans”, such as the Heat and Buildings Strategy and the Treasury’s net zero review, have been delayed by a year or more.
The report also identifies signs of a “multi-speed approach” within government to putting in place effective policies.
Some departments, including MHCLG, and parts of BEIS and the Treasury, are “lagging behind others and appear timid in their approach”.
“There is a need for a coherent approach to achieving net zero and to ensure that all government policies are compatible with the transition to net zero.”
The CCC says the Treasury must prioritise net zero, when it conducts its multi-year spending review later this year, ensuring departments are fully equipped to deliver the carbon budgets.
The pan-government net zero strategy, which is due to be published ahead of the COP26 summit later this year, must include “quantified, credible pathways” for sectoral decarbonisation, technology deployment and behaviour changes backed by specific policies.
Beyond electricity generation, progress on decarbonising specific sectors has been “insufficient”, the CCC judges.
There has been little of the progress required to upgrade the country’s building stock and rates of heat pump installation remain “far below” necessary levels.
While the deployment of renewable electricity generation slowed down in 2020, this is likely to be temporary, says the CCC.
However, the government must address “with urgency” rising emissions from energy from waste. Support should be provided to enable existing incinerators to be retrofitted with carbon capture technology from the late 2020s, and policies introduced to ensure that any new plants are built either with CCUS or are CCUS ready.
Reaction
Commenting on the CCC’s progress report Energy UK’s Chief Executive, Emma Pinchbeck, said: “As the CCC’s report notes, the energy sector has led the way in reducing carbon emissions and has a crucial role to play in helping the country reach Net Zero. It’s two years since the government put the Net Zero target into law, and whilst the long term ambition is brilliant, we urgently need to crack on with emissions reduction now”
“We agree with this report’s findings that we need detailed policies and strategies that will allow us to mobilise the investment needed in new infrastructure, technologies and behaviour change. The more we delay these policies and strategies, the harder the task becomes. “If we get the right policies and strategies the industry is confident we can deliver – we’ve gone much faster than any thought possible on things like renewable.
“But change takes time – hitting 78 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 means taking action on policy and regulation today. In the year that the UK hosts COP26, the government needs to show leadership at home as well as internationally, and throw everything at the next decade. They could start with a Net Zero test across the whole economy, and ensuring our legislation dating back to 2013 is updated through a new Energy Bill.”
Environmental Audit committee chairman, Philip Dunne MP, said: “The Climate Change Committee’s progress report offers a frank assessment of the government’s environmental progress to date. The UK has made much headway in creating a cleaner electricity system over the last decade, but we have a long way to go to clean up transport, industry and our homes and buildings. The Covid crisis has clearly diverted government from this task. But now we must move beyond warm words: now is the time for policies that deliver strong incentives to cut carbon across the economy.”