Climate Change Committee report critical of UK government progress towards Net Zero

The (UK’s) Climate Change Committee, chaired by Lord Deben, published its annual statutory report to parliament on the UK’s progress towards net zero on 28 June 2023.

The report is highly critical of the government, saying progress is ‘too slow’ and that the UK risks is losing its leadership position.

Needless to say SRI Services is deeply concerned about the content of this report.  We will continue to support actions large and small that will help deliver net zero and, like the CCC, also believe that additional fossil fuel exploration is inconsistent with achieving net zero within the necessary timeframes.

Below are links, key messages and a video that explain further.

The report can be downloaded here:

2023 Progress Report to Parliament

The following text is copied from – https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/2023-progress-report-to-parliament/#key-messages

Key messages

Our key messages are:

• A lack of urgency. While the policy framework has continued to develop over the past year, this is not happening at the required pace for future targets.
• Stay firm on existing commitments and move to delivery. The Government has made a number of strong commitments, these must be restated and moved as swiftly as possible towards delivery.
• Retake a clear leadership role internationally. The UK will need to regain its international climate leadership.
• Immediate priority actions and policies. Action is needed in a range of areas to deliver on the Government’s emissions pathway.
• Develop demand-side and land use policies. The Government’s current strategy has considerable delivery risks due to its over-reliance on specific technological solutions, some of which have not yet been deployed at scale.
• Empower and inform households and communities to make low-carbon choices. 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.
• Planning policy needs radical reform to support Net Zero. The planning system must have an overarching requirement that all planning decisions must be taken giving full regard to the imperative of Net Zero.
• Expansion of fossil fuel production is not in line with Net Zero. As well as pushing forward strongly with new low-carbon industries, Net Zero also makes it necessary to move away from high-carbon developments.
• The need for a framework to manage airport capacity. There has been continued airport expansion in recent years, counter to our assessment that there should be no net airport expansion across the UK.

Further reading:

• https://www.theccc.org.uk/publications/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66032607
• https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Progress-in-reducing-UK-emissions-2023-Report-to-Parliament.pdf

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