By Anders Lorenzen

Just over a week after Ed Miliband, the Energy and Net Zero Secretary of State who is charged with spearheading the barely two-week-old Labour Government response to the climate crisis, appointed the former head of the independent climate advisors to the government, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) Chris Stark, to Mission Control, an initiative to meet the country’s 2030 clean energy targets, his former employees warned the government that the UK is off-track to meet its net-zero targets. 

The CCC has warned that credible plans and policies cover only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the country’s 2030 target.

The body acknowledges that the country has been successful and is well underway to decarbonise the electricity sector. The phase-out of coal and the increase in renewables has been key to achieving this.

But they caution we must now pick up the decarbonisation speed across other industries outside energy – particularly in transport, buildings, industry and agriculture. In a criticism of the previous Conservative government, they said their plans and policies would not deliver the required action soon enough.

Making up for lost time

Professor Piers Foster, Interim CCC Chair said: “The country’s 2030 emissions reduction target is at risk. The new government has an opportunity to correct the course, but it will need to be done as a matter of urgency to make up for lost time. They are off to a good start. Action needs to extend beyond electricity, with rapid progress needed on electric cars, heat pumps and tree planting. It can deliver investment, lower bills, and energy security, and it will help the UK keep its place on the world stage.”

To accelerate the decarbonisation pace, the CCC has written 10 recommendations that it encourages the new government to take on board. 

In short, those recommendations are: Make electricity cheaper, reverse recent policy rollbacks, remove planning barriers for heat pumps, electric vehicle (EV) charge points and onshore wind, introduce a comprehensive programme for decarbonisation of public sector buildings, effectively design and implement the upcoming renewable energy CfD auctions, accelerate the electrification of industrial heat, ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration, finalise business models for large-scale deployment of engineered removals, publish a strategy to support skills and strengthen the third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3).   

It is worth adding that the new UK government have already begun work removing planning barriers for onshore wind as well as other low-carbon technologies and climate-critical infrastructure projects.

The CCC said that clear and effective messaging and communication are key and that the messaging by the previous government was confusing. Moving forward certainty and clarity about the direction of travel is crucial to meet the 2030 targets.