There has been lmost no progress' in cutting carbon emissions in the UK outside the power industry, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
In its annual performance update to Parliament on reaching the targets in the Climate Change Act, the CCC said emissions had fallen 4.5% a year, on average, since 2012. However, the decline had been almost entirely due to reductions in the power sector, particularly much lower burning of coal because government policies had driven an expansion of renewable generation.
By contrast, emissions from the rest of the economy had fallen by less than 1% a year since 2012 on a temperature-adjusted basis. The committee’s report cites slow uptake of low-carbon technologies in the built environment, including scant improvement in the rates of insulation and take-up of low-carbon heat.
Improved vehicle efficiency had been offset by increased demand for travel as the economy grew and fuel prices had fallen, the CCC said. Meanwhile, there had been minimal improvement in the industrial and agriculture sectors.
‘Progress will need to be broader to meet the recommended fifth carbon budget and to prepare sufficiently for 2050,’ the report states. The complete replacement of coal-fired generation with low-carbon generation in the power sector would provide less than half of the total emissions reduction required by 2030.
The committee’s report was published as the government laid the fifth carbon budget in Parliament. This sets a limit for emissions of 1,725MtCO2e for the period 2028-2032, in line with the committee’s advice.
Looking at what action is necessary to keep emissions below this cap, the committee said existing or planned policy in some areas required stronger implementation to be successful. In others, new approaches would be required to fill a gap of around 100 MTCO2e, which equates to 47% of the required emissions reduction to meet the fifth carbon budget.
The CCC recommended that the government: prioritise energy efficiency of buildings, which had stalled since 2012; develop post-2020 transport policies; adopt a new approach to carbon capture and storage to replace the commercialisation programme cancelled last year; and hold further auctions for low carbon generation.
The committee acknowledged that the result of the EU referendum would mean that different methods may be required to meet emissions reduction targets. It was too early to say what these would be, but the committee pledged to consider the issue and publish a report later this year.
The government’s publication of the fifth carbon budget was welcomed by organisations, including IEMA, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), EEF, the Aldersgate Group and Friends of the Earth. Many praised the government for providing reassurance that it was committed to tackling climate change, despite the political turmoil following the EU referendum.
Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, said: ‘At a time when global investments in clean technologies are rapidly growing in countries such as China, India, the US and South Africa, it’s important that the UK keeps growing its low carbon economy to remain competitive on the global stage.’
However, the Climate Change Act required the government to be formally adopted by Parliament by the end of June and this has not been achieved, campaign group Sandbag noted.
John Alker, campaigns and policy director at UK GBC, said: ‘Aspiration needs to be followed by action. The CCC lays bare the very large hole in the government's carbon reduction plans, which is particularly cavernous in the buildings sector. This can hardly come as a surprise after the scaling back of the energy company obligation and feed-in tariffs, scrapping of the Green Deal without a replacement and the u-turn on zero-carbon homes.’
Martin Baxter, IEMA’s chief policy advisor, said: ‘Achieving the 2030 target will require concerted action and investment. The recent referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU makes the job harder but not impossible.’
The government is required to publish a plan outlining policies towards meeting the fifth carbon budget by the end of the year.
Sepi Golzari-Munro, head of the UK programme at E3G, commented: ‘The plan to implement the fourth and fifth carbon budgets must now provide detail of not only the policies required, but also the finance to deliver on the UK’s ambition.’
John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, said: ‘It’s no good having numbers on spreadsheets without the delivery to match. The absence of clear government plans and support for action on renewable energy, homes, cars, agriculture and planes shows how far the rhetoric of climate action has drifted from anything real.’
