UK needs to take stronger action to meet carbon targets
The UK’s climate advisers have urged the government to take much stronger action to reduce carbon emissions, or risk missing its own legally-binding targets.
The UK’s climate advisers have urged the government to take much stronger action to reduce carbon emissions, or risk missing its own legally-binding targets.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has assessed the government’s current proposals under the Clean Growth Strategy, released in October last year. It concludes that there remains a significant policy gap towards achieving its ambitious goals throughout the 2020s and 2030s.
The Committee points out that significant progress has already been made towards achieving the targets set out by the Climate Change Act; emissions fell by 42% from 1990 to 2016. However, these have to continue to be reduced, reaching 57% (below 1990 levels) by 2032, and a full 80% in 2050.
The Committee’s Chairman, Lord Deben, said: “The Clean Growth Strategy is ambitious in its aims to build a thriving low-carbon Britain but ambitions alone are not enough. As it stands, the Strategy does not deliver enough action to meet the UK’s emissions targets. The Government’s policies and proposals will need to be firmed up as a matter of urgency – and supplemented with additional measures – if the UK is to deliver on its legal commitments and secure its position as an international climate change leader”.
The report recommends that the government should ensure 60% of new vehicles are electric by 2030; and that 85% of electricity comes from low-carbon sources by the same date. Much more also needs to be done to tackle emissions from aviation.
The government needs to make firm policy plans on existing proposals, such as how it will ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, and how to make homes much more energy efficient. This will help tenants and homeowners save significant amounts on energy bills.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told The Press Association: “The UK has reduced emissions on a per person basis faster than any other G7 nation, and our Clean Growth Strategy is the next ambitious milestone in our work to decarbonise the UK, but we have always said it is only the start of a process.
“Our proposals will continue to evolve whether in response to costs of renewable energy coming down, improved evidence about climate change, wider trends in technology or the economic opportunities delivered through our Industrial Strategy.”
Image Credit: Alan Trotter