Government has ‘no plan’ for achieving Net Zero

The Public Accounts Committee has stated that the government ‘lacks a plan for how it will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050’ despite setting the target in law almost two years ago.

The government has said that it ‘intends to publish a plethora of strategies this year’ setting out how it will reduce emissions in different sectors ranging from transport to the heating of buildings. However, the committee’s new report claims that there is currently no coordinated plan with clear milestones towards reaching the target.

This is partly due to departments across government not yet sufficiently considering the impact on net zero when taking forward projects and programmes. The Treasury has changed the guidance on policy appraisal to ensure departments place greater emphasis on the environmental impacts, but the Public Accounts Committee says that they also haven’t set out how this will work in practice.

Research indicates that as much as 62 per cent of the future reduction in emissions will rely on individual choices and behaviours, from day to day lifestyle choices to one off purchases such as replacing boilers that use fossil fuels or buying an electric vehicle. However, the government has not yet engaged with the public on the substantial, individual behaviour – as well as structural economic - changes that achieving net zero will require. In 2020 a group of Parliamentary select committees hosted Climate Assembly UK in an attempt to begin that conversation with the public.

Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "Government has set itself a huge test in committing the UK to a net zero economy by 2050 - but there is little sign that it understands how to get there and almost two years later it still has no plan. Our response to climate change must be as joined up and integrated as the ecosystems we are trying to protect. We must see a clear path plotted, with interim goals set and reached - it will not do to dump our emissions on poorer countries to hit UK targets. Our new international trade deals, the levelling up agenda - all must fit in the plan to reach net zero. COP26 is a few months away; the eyes of the world, its scientists and policymakers are on the UK - big promises full of fine words won’t stand up."