Climate Change Committee urges faster electrification in latest progress report
Wed 24 June 2026
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The latest, annual progress report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) says that overall emissions fell 1.8% in 2025. While there has been good progress in some areas and the UK is on track to meet the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, emissions from the transport and buildings sectors increasingly represent the greatest challenges. Overall, the CCC says that the UK is not electrifying fast enough.
The CCC, the Government's official watchdog on climate, says that the UK’s ongoing reliance on fossil fuels – and the second fossil-fuel price shock in four years – has caused a “cost of living crisis”.
The report was published amid an extreme heat warning from the Met Office in which UK temperature records for June were smashed. It also coincided with the day that parliament voted on the Seventh Carbon Budget which sets a legally binding limit on UK emissions in 2040. (see related story).
The Committee points out that sales of electric vehicles continued to grow (with one in four new car sales now electric) and that a record amount of new renewable energy was contracted in the latest auction. It calls on the Government to “stand firm” on its climate goals, including its strategy for encouraging EV sales (the ZEV Mandate) where there have been recent suggestions that targets might be weakened.
The report notes that EV costs continue to fall and have met price parity in some parts of the market, with grants providing an extra boost to sales.
However, road transport remains the UK’s highest emitting sector and its emissions increased by nearly 3% last year, according to provisional data in the CCC report.
While electric car sales have been increasing (and there are now over two million on the road), the CCC says that the emissions benefit is likely to have been offset by other factors such as driving rates returning close to pre-Covid levels.
As well as standing firm on the ZEV Mandate, the Committee says it is important that the Government removes barriers to EV adoption, highlighting the need to provide access to cheap EV charging, so the one-third of UK homes without home charging can benefit from lower running costs. (CCC analysis suggests that while the average home with off-street charging can make big savings by switching from a petrol car to an EV, their running costs could actually increase if they have to rely on public charging infrastructure.)
The report notes the importance of using time-of-use tariffs, which it says can help people save even more money, suggesting that measures to support consumer awareness of this could drive further uptake.
The Committee's report comments on the proposals for eVED, due to start from April 2028, saying that it's essential to make sure the tax is implemented in a straightforward manner to avoid hassle and confusion that could disrupt the EV transition.
While electric car sales have so far remained slightly ahead of the level needed to hit the ZEV Mandate, the CCC notes that electric van sales and prices are significantly off track, remaining considerably more expensive than combustion engine equivalents.
The report also calls for government support, including improved access to fast charging. It also proposes regulatory reforms which, for example, include certain licensing and testing requirements based on vehicle weight, which puts heavier battery-powered vehicles at a disadvantage.
The CCC's report also criticises recent policy decisions that incentivise sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) which it says are based on emissions factors which underestimate real-world emissions. The report says: “Providing incentives for emissions savings that PHEVs do not deliver distorts the market and risks eating into the demand for EVs.”
The report says that progress in some other areas of electrification has slowed including heat pump installations in existing homes. The share of electricity in industrial energy use also fell slightly last year.
Overall, slow progress in electrification, the Committee says, is leaving people exposed to fossil fuel price shocks and putting later carbon budgets at risk. It urges the Government to adopt a more ambitious plan to electrify these key parts of the economy, including further action to reduce the cost of electricity.
It cites new analysis showing that as a result of fossil energy price rises since the start of the Iran war, a typical household could save around £1,200 a year today by combining an EV, a heat pump, solar panels and a time-of-use tariff. This figure rises to around £1,900 for some rural homes.
Nigel Topping CMG, Chair of the CCC said: “Government support to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles and heat pumps is critical, not only to keep our climate targets within reach but to unlock savings. At this moment of political uncertainty, any weakening of current positions risks slowing these transitions, undermining investment and the long-term consistency businesses need.
“This is about more than targets, it’s about cleaner air, energy security and shielding the economy from fossil fuel shocks. Ultimately this is about putting money back into people’s pockets.”
The report identifies remaining challenges in the UK’s climate strategy which include accelerating the expansion of heat pumps, cutting emissions from farms and supplying planes with “sustainable” fuels.
It notes that the Government has closed some of the gaps to its upcoming targets and introduced more “credible” plans. However, it says that 17% of the emissions cuts required to achieve the UK’s 2030 Paris Agreement climate target are currently not addressed by any Government plans at all.
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are now roughly 50% below 1990 levels, the CCC says, with the lion’s share of this having come from cleaning up the power sector. There has, however, overall been far less progress in transport, which is now the UK’s largest emitting sector, as well as in buildings, the second largest.
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