‘Put words into actions on tackling climate change’
CUTBACKS and slow progress on policies to tackle climate change must be urgently reversed if the UK is to meet its new legally-binding net zero target, MPs have said.
The target to cut the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall by 2050 was passed into law earlier this year - but MPs warn it will not be met without new policies to boost clean growth.
The Commons Science and Technology Committee pointed to a number of areas where Government policy to support bringing in lowcarbon tech had been delayed, cut back or had undermined emissions reductions.
They include cuts to grants for low emissions cars, the freezing of fuel duty while train and bus fares have risen and removal of policies to improve the energy efficiency of homes, a report by the MPs said.
Committee chairman Norman Lamb said the Government was not putting in place the policies that were needed to meet its climate tar
gets, with the UK currently not on track to meet its goals into the 2030s, let alone net zero.
“We need to see the Government put its words into actions. We heard of cutbacks in various programmes and slow progress, which are incompatible with the UK’s two upcoming, legally binding, carbon budgets – this is unacceptable.
“If governments across the world fail to act, it will have dire consequences for the environment and generations to come.”
Meeting the target requires efforts to cut carbon emissions from heating systems, improve home energy efficiency, tackle vehicle pollution, support onshore wind and solar power and sustain nuclear power without growing the industry, the report said.
A Government spokesman said: “From transport to heating, electricity to agriculture, we are working to put in place the right measures to help us tackle global warming.
“We welcome the committee’s report and will consider its findings.
“We are going further and faster to tackle climate change than any other major economy, having legislated for net zero emissions by 2050.”