A “shocking” failure to insulate homes is one of the key reasons the UK is set to miss the country’s flagship net-zero target, the government’s independent climate advisers have warned.
In a 600-page report to parliament today, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that while there had been progress on carbon-cutting policies in the past year, the government was taking a “high-wire approach to net zero” due to a lack of credible plans across the economy.
The group was scathing about government efforts to upgrade the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes, which are some of the oldest and draughtiest in Europe.
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“It’s a complete tale of woe,” says Chris Stark at the CCC, referring to the sparsity of efficiency measures installed over the past decade as a result of government schemes. The approach has been “frankly shocking”, he adds.
Government plans to reduce agriculture’s emissions are also highlighted as falling far short of what is needed. These emissions remain flat rather than dropping, points out Stark, who says “nothing’s happening”.
The report comes as fears grow that the UK government is considering rowing back on its green agenda in the wake of concerns over energy security and the cost of living, triggered partly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Plans to independently verify the emissions of fossil fuel power plants will be delayed by a year, .
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, also that the government will give the green light to the UK’s first coal mine in 30 years, with a decision due in the next eight days. John Gummer, chair of the CCC, says approval of the mine would be “absolutely indefensible”. He says most of the coking coal it produces will be exported, adding: “We do not need this coal mine.”
However, Stark isn't worried about the to address energy security fears. “I'm not at all concerned by brief extensions to coal plants that are used hardly at all,” he says, adding the emissions will be “very, very tiny”.
The progress report finds that almost two-fifths of the emissions reductions needed for the UK to meet its legally binding carbon target for the mid-2030s are endangered by a “policy gap” or “significant risks” to the policies that exist. The target is to slash emissions by 78 per cent by 2035. “Overall, the programme is not sufficient to get to the targets,” says Stark. The government is also criticised for over-reliance on technological fixes and not doing enough to encourage behaviour change such as pushing people to fly less or eat less meat and dairy.
Only 39 per cent of the required emissions cuts for the mid-2030s are considered to be backed by credible policies, mostly ones to spur electric car use and renewable electricity generation. Support for electric cars is considered a bright spot, with the CCC finding that real world sales are outpacing its own projections.
The report finds that the UK is about halfway – a 47 per cent reduction on the level of emissions in 1990 – to its legal goal of getting to net zero by 2050. Despite emissions rising in 2021, they are still 10 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. Aviation emissions last year were down 8 per cent, but surface transport emissions - mostly down to cars - were up 10 per cent.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We should all be proud that over the past three decades, the UK has driven down emissions faster than any other G7 country, and that we have clear plans to go further."
Stark says his group’s assessment wasn't hampered by a lack of transparency on the government's net-zero plans, an issue that campaigners recently challenged in the courts. However, he adds: “They are not producing line-by-line, policy-by-policy assessments, even though we know they have that kind of information. So I think there is still more that could be done.”
The government has repeatedly refused to publish a spreadsheet of how much individual policies will cut emissions.
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