UK is NOT on track for Net Zero, says CCC

The Climate Change Committee (CCC)’s assessment is that only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the country’s 2030 target – the first one set in line with a Net Zero trajectory – are currently covered by credible plans.

In more positive news, the CCC report found that the country’s emissions are now less than half the levels they were in 1990. This is largely due to the phase out of coal and the ramping up of renewables.

Professor Piers Forster, interim Chair of the Climate Change Committee, said:

The country’s 2030 emissions reduction target is at risk. The new Government has an opportunity to course-correct, but it will need to be done as a matter of urgency to make up for lost time. They are off to a good start. Action needs to extend beyond electricity, with rapid progress needed on electric cars, heat pumps and tree planting.

The transition to Net Zero can deliver investment, lower bills, and energy security. It will help the UK keep its place on the world stage. It is a way for this Government to serve both the people of today and the people of tomorrow.

The CCC has made ten recommendations:

• • Make electricity cheaper. Removing policy costs from electricity prices will support industrial electrification and ensure the lower running costs of heat pumps compared to fossil-fuel boilers are reflected in household bills.
  • Reverse recent policy rollbacks. Remove the exemption of 20% of households from the 2035 fossil-fuel boiler installation phase-out, address the gap left by removing obligations on landlords to improve the energy efficiency of rented homes and reinstate the 2030 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car and van sales. The damage of these rollbacks can be limited by quickly reinstating these policies.
  • Remove planning barriers for heat pumps, electric vehicle charge points and onshore wind.
  • Introduce a comprehensive programme for decarbonisation of public sector buildings.
  • Effectively design and implement the upcoming renewable energy CfD auctions. Ensure funding and auction design for the Sixth and Seventh Allocation Rounds are appropriate to deliver at least 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
  • Accelerate electrification of industrial heat. Strengthen the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to ensure that its price is sufficient to incentivise decarbonisation and that support is available for a rapid transition to electric heat across much of industry.
  • Ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration. Tree planting must be scaled up in the 2020s for abatement to be sufficient for later carbon budgets and Net Zero. There must be no more delays to addressing the barriers to delivery.
  • Finalise business models for large-scale deployment of engineered removals. Finalise and open to the market the business models for engineered removals.
  • Publish a strategy to support skills. Support workers in sectors which need to grow or transition and in communities that may be adversely impacted.
  • Strengthen NAP3 with a vision that sets clear objectives and targets and reorganise government adaptation policy. Adaptation must become a fundamental aspect of policymaking across all departments and be integrated into other national policy objectives.

To read the full report: theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-reducing-emissions-2024-report-to-parliament/