On Wednesday ESNZC will hear from the leadership of the UK’s Climate Change Committee – an independent statutory body that provides the Government and Parliament with climate advice. This will be the first appearance of the CCC’s new Chief Executive, Emma Pinchbeck, appointed in November after leading Energy UK, the energy trade body.
Meeting details
Around the time of her appointment, the CCC published its latest advice on the UK’s “nationally determined contribution” to reducing carbon emissions under the international Paris Agreement, recommending that this be increased to a target of 81% reduction by 2035, from 1990 levels. This new target was publicly adopted by the UK at COP29 and will inform the UK’s next carbon budget expected early this year.
But the CCC’s latest annual update to Parliament on reducing emissions, showed that ‘credible plans’ - funded and with a delivery timeline in place - exist for only 32% of required emissions reductions to meet the 2030 NDC target. Plans for 14% of the required emissions reductions are either completely missing or inadequate.
With concern about “greenwashing” and a growing public “greenlash” against the policies necessary to halt global heating, what can the CCC tell us about staying on track, across Government, to reach Net Zero - and what actions does DESNZ in particular need to be taking now?