“With 27 years left to hit the Net Zero target in 2050, the Committee on Climate Change’s annual Progress Report to Parliament is stark reading. The CCC’s confidence in the achievement of the UK’s 2030 target and the Fifth and Sixth Carbon Budgets, which will keep the UK on track to Net Zero, has markedly declined from last year.
“The CCC complains that not only is policy development too slow, but, crucially, the Committee doubts the government’s commitment and capacity to deliver – whilst also challenging the opposition’s unwillingness ‘to lead, lest some people don’t like the decisions that are being made.
“Many of the important graphs are going in the right direction – for example renewable electricity capacity increased in 2022, but not at the rate required to meet the Government’s targets to decarbonize the power sector. The UK installed a mere 72,000 new heat pumps in 2022, which is making the government’s target of 600,000 per year by 2028 look increasingly implausible. In his last report as Chair of the CCC, Lord Deben urged the Government ‘to find the courage to place climate change once again at the heart of its leadership.”
