How realistic is the Seventh Carbon Budget? MPs hear business views
How realistic and deliverable is the Seventh Carbon Budget (CB7) for UK industry? On Wednesday 3 December, MPs will hear views from a range of sectors including energy, shipping, steel, aviation and automotive.
The Environmental Audit Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into CB7, the next of a series of five-year plans to get the UK to net zero emissions by 2050. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommends the UK set the next budget at 535 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) down from 965 million tonnes in the Sixth Carbon Budget.
Meeting details
In its Balanced Pathway advice, the CCC recommends reducing the contribution of fossil fuels from 73% in 2025 to 14% in 2050, with a significant increase in electricity and a decline in gas.
MPs will ask witnesses whether these proposals are deliverable, what key barriers face achieving this energy mix, and whether there might be alternative pathways.
MPs and witnesses are also likely to discuss how:
- Government can help industry to decarbonise its energy supply
- The aviation industry will meet targets to reduce emissions
- To speed up the deployment of heat pumps and reduce electricity prices
- To overcome public perceptions that sustainable technologies are too complex or expensive