Government has “no clear plan for how the transition to net zero will be funded”, report states

The Public Accounts Committee has published Achieving Net Zero: Follow up, which says the Government has “no clear plan for how the transition to net zero will be funded”.

The report also states that the Government has “no reliable estimate of what the process of implementing the net zero policy is actually likely to cost British consumers, households, businesses or government itself”.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Government is relying heavily on rapidly changing consumer behaviours and technological innovations to drive down the costs of green options, but it is not clear how it will support and encourage consumers to purchase greener products or incentivise businesses and drive change.

“Every Government department has a responsibility for delivering policies towards the target of net zero but two years after enshrining the ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 target in law, the Government has unveiled a plan without answers to the key questions of how it will fund the transition to net zero – including how it replace significant income from taxes such as fuel duty.

“The Government’s net zero strategy requires government, local government, regulators, businesses, and consumers working all together to deliver its targets. A top-down strategy from government won’t deliver on its own. There is a risk that a series of disconnected initiatives announced by central government will not bring about the changes that are now set out in law.”

Read the full report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmpubacc/642/report.html

The report comes as campaign group Friends of the Earth has been given the go-ahead to take the Government to court over its Net Zero Strategy, which it says is “riddled with holes and omissions”.

The concerns raised include an “overreliance on technology that hasn’t even even been rolled out yet” and that “the strategy doesn’t contain any assessment of the impact of the proposed policies – it’s all theoretical”.

Friends of the Earth’s lawyer, Katie de Kauwe, said: “A rapid and fair transition to a safer future requires a plan that shows how much greenhouse gas reduction the chosen policies will achieve, and by when. That the plan for achieving net zero is published without this information in it is very worrying, and we believe is unlawful.”