Climate Committee: "UK has lost clear global leadership position on climate action"

Wed 28 June 2023 View all news

The latest annual Progress Report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) says that the UK has lost its clear global leadership position on climate action and that policies 'lack urgency'. In a later development, Lord Zac Goldsmith has left the Government, citing concerns about a lack of interest in environmental issues at senior levels, leading to a "kind of paralysis" in terms of policy from Whitehall. 

The CCC's report says the transport sector is critical in terms of meeting climate targets and that progress is not fast enough. Amongst  17 specific recommendations for surface transport,  it says that plug-in hybrid vehicles are not providing the emissions gains expected of them and that the Government should “set an ambitious definition of significant zero emission capability” or they should not be sold beyond 2030.

Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the CCC (and a speaker at Zemo's recent 20th Anniversary Conference) said : “What we’re seeing with plug-in hybrids is essentially a continuation of the use of fossil fuels. So we need to move away from using fossil fuels at all in cars and vans to straightforward battery electric vehicles.”

Overall, the CCC says that Government efforts to scale up climate action are "worryingly slow" and that it is "markedly less confident" than a year ago that the UK would reach its targets for cutting carbon emissions.

Committee Chair Lord Deben, a former Conservative environment minister, has been particularly critical of the Government's policy to signal approval for new coal and oil exploitation projects.

The Committee's report says: "The UK has lost its clear global leadership position on climate action. We are no longer COP President; no longer a member of the EU negotiating bloc. Our response to the recent fossil fuel price crisis did not embrace the rapid steps that could have been taken to reduce energy demand and grow renewable generation. We have backtracked on fossil fuel commitments, with the consenting of a new coal mine and support for new UK oil and gas production – despite the strong wording of the Glasgow Climate Pact...

"We have been slow to react to the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, which are now a strong pull for green investment away from the UK. It is critical that the UK re-establishes its climate leadership with a clearer strategy to develop Net Zero industries and technologies in the UK and capture the economic benefits of Net Zero, with actions that create demand-pull for the critical technologies that will shape the UK’s progress over the next decade."

In an article published soon after the CCC's Progress Report, Climate Committee member Piers Forster of Leeds University wrote: "The UK is not giving its industries the support they need to electrify and decarbonise and there is little sign of progress. The Government has set a laudable ambition to decarbonise steel and develop carbon dioxide removal industries but there are few concrete plans in place".

The CCC 2023 Progress Report's 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.

Responding to the report, Energy UK CEO Emma Pinchbeck said: "If we fail to see focused and comprehensive interventions as recommended by the Climate Change Committee, the UK risks missing out on the significant opportunities for growth, job creation, and export presented by Net Zero."

In a related development, Government minister Lord Zac Goldsmith, Minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said in a resignation statement, published on Twitter: "The problem is not that this Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested. That signal has trickled down through Whitehall and created a kind of paralysis".   

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