UK has ‘gone to the pub’ on net zero

The UK is guilty of “leaving behind a black hole where detailed policy and a plan of implementation ought to be” after setting its 2050 net zero target, a former BBC director-general has said.

During a Lords debate on the Industry and Regulators Committee’s report on the net zero transformation, Lord Birt described the lack of action on meeting net zero as a “true scandal”.

He said: “As a nation, we have declared a widely supported net-zero goal and then, in effect, walked off to the pub, leaving behind a black hole where detailed policy and a plan of implementation ought to be in place.”

Lord Birt also slammed the government’s decision to commission ex-energy minister Chris Skidmore to carry out a review into delivery of net zero.

“Valuable as it is to have the Skidmore Review, it was an extraordinary act for the government to commission it. Doing so was, in effect, an overt declaration that the government were not wrestling with and resolving the host of unsettled issues that the Skidmore Review identifies.”

The committee’s chair Lord Hollick said in the debate that the government was proceeding at a “snail’s pace” on net zero.

Few of the initiatives and guidance, which the government had promised during 2022 in its response to his committee’s report, have materialised so far, he said.

The committee had also yet to receive an update on 14 of the promised initiatives, which it had requested in December, the Labour peer said, adding that it had been delayed by business secretary Grant Shapps’ visit to the World Economic Forum conference in Davos earlier in the week.

He said: “The evidence to hand shows that delivery is taking place at a snail’s pace—and this against a background of long lead times to build critical elements of the new energy system.

“The lack of a clear and consistent strategy and policy and the sluggish pace of delivery will lead to delay and missed opportunities.”

Lord Burns, a member of the committee and former permanent secretary at the Treasury, backed the report’s recommendation to set up a commission in the Cabinet Office to co-ordinate action on net zero.

He said: “Like the vaccine task force, this is a job for a focused team whose sole task is to deliver that policy and to help households through the transition. It is complicated, it will take time and it could be costly.”