Report by the CCC to government shows failure on climate…
The Climate Change Committee, the government’s advisors on climate, have produced their 2023 report, which shows that targets are being missed on nearly every front. Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before. There is little progress on transport emissions, no coherent programme for behaviour change, and still no decision on hydrogen and boilers for home heating. Meanwhile the installation of new wind and solar farms and the upgrading of the electricity grid are still too slow to meet net zero. The lack of urgency of government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled. Greenhouse gas emissions have been falling by just under 3% a year, but this will need to double over the next eight years. Chris Stark, chief executive of the CCC, said what is missing is the right political leadership, at a high level to get actions done. On aviation it says there needs to be 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. .Tweet 2023 Progress Report to Parliament This statutory report provides a comprehensive overview of theUK Government’s progress to date in reducing emissions. https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/2023-progress-report-to-parliament/#recommendations-to-government This states: This year saw the release of new detail on the Government’s plans for Net Zero with the publication of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) prompted by last year’s High Court judgement. But policy development continues to be too slow and our assessment of the CBDP has raised new concerns. Despite new detail from Government, our confidence in the UK meeting its medium-term targets has decreased in the past year. The increased transparency embodied in the CBDP is welcome, but a key opportunity to raise the overall pace of delivery has been missed. Policy Recommendation on aviation from the report: R2023-037 No airport expansions should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place to annually assess and, if required, control sector GHG emissions and non-CO2 effects. A framework should be developed by DfT in cooperation with the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish Governments over the next 12 months and should be operational by the end of 2024. After a framework is developed, there should be no net airport expansion unless the carbon-intensity of aviation is outperforming the Government’s emissions reduction pathway and can accommodate the additional demand. UK has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say government’s own advisers UK has lost leadership in climate action and almost all targets are being missed, Committee on Climate Change finds By Fiona Harvey, Environment editor (The Guardian) Wed 28 Jun 2023 The government’s plans to hit net zero have been comprehensively criticised in a withering report https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/2023-progress-report-to-parliament/ by its own advisers that warns targets are being missed on nearly every front. Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before, despite soaring energy bills and a cost of living crisis. There is little progress on transport emissions, no coherent programme for behaviour change, and still no decision on hydrogen for home heating. Meanwhile the installation of new wind and solar farms and the upgrading of the electricity grid are still too slow to meet net zero, according to the Committee on Climate Change, which says that the lack of urgency of government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled. Lord Deben, outgoing chair of the CCC, said the UK had “lost the leadership” on climate action shown at Cop26 in 2021 and done “a number of things” – such as greenlig
