The Committee on Climate Change is warning that the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy does not go far enough and that urgent action is needed to flesh out current plans and proposals in order to meet the UK’s legally-binding carbon targets in the 2020s and 2030s,
The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, required under the Climate Change Act, sets out the next steps to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change.
Commenting on the strategy, the CCC said that the UK has made good progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions since the Climate Change Act was passed in 2008, nearly ten years ago. Emissions fell by 42% from 1990 to 2016 – faster than the average rate of reduction in the G7.
The Clean Growth Strategy commits to delivering further action towards meeting the fourth (2023-27) and fifth (2028-32) carbon budgets, on the path to reducing UK emissions by at least 80% in 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
The Strategy also reaffirms the UK’s desire to remain at the forefront of tackling climate change globally.
However, the CCC said that although the Strategy is ambitious, significant gaps still remain. Even if delivered in full, existing and new policies, including those set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, would miss the fourth and fifth carbon budgets by around 10-65 MtCO2e – a significant margin, the CCC said.
The findings are part of the Committee’s new report, ‘An independent assessment of the UK’s Clean Growth Strategy: From ambition to action’. In particular, the Committee is recommending that the Government:
- Urgently firm up policies and proposals in the Clean Growth Strategy.
- Develop and implement new policies to close the remaining ‘emissions gap’ to the fourth and fifth carbon budgets. There is a particular risk around meeting the fourth carbon budget which begins in just five years’ time.
- Address the risks of under-delivery - existing and new policies to reduce emissions carry significant delivery risks. The timely completion of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is one example.
CCC 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 in the 2020s and 2030s. 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.”
Click here to download the Clean Growth Strategy
Click here to download the CCC report An independent assessment of the UK’s Clean Growth Strategy: From ambition to action.
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