What’s the plan with net zero?
THE Government has a laudable goal of achieving “net zero” by 2050. This would mean that the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to or less than the emissions removed from the environment.
Its aim, of course, is to limit global warming as much as possible. And there may be other benefits too. For example, reducing car use, or encouraging a switch from petrol cars to electric vehicles, will cut air pollution and the deaths associated with it.
But some MPs are concerned that the way the Government is implementing this policy is causing other problems, such as adding to the cost of living for many families.
For example, “green” taxes on energy add around 12% to bills for many households. The money is put to good use, such as subsidising low-pollution electricity generation. It’s also meant to act as a disincentive to use any more fuel than you need to.
In other words, the cost is deliberately increased to encourage householders to reduce the energy they use.
But does this really make sense when people are already struggling to make ends meet, or going cold in an attempt to reduce their bills?
It’s an issue some Conservative MPs are worried about. But now, concerns have been raised by a cross-party House of Commons Committee.
In a new report, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee warns that the Government doesn’t appear to know how much the net zero policy will cost British consumers, households, businesses or government itself.
Committee members include West Bromwich West MP Shaun Bailey. They also include Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, and the chair is Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier.
In a new report, the Committee said the Government still has “no clear plan for how the transition to net zero will be funded”.
And MPs are worried about how the income from road taxes will be replaced once the Government achieves its goal of getting petrol and diesel vehicles off the road.
It says the Government doesn’t appear to know “how it will replace income from taxes such as fuel duty”.
MPs say certainty for business and consumers is critical, but the
Government has “too often pursued stop-start strategies which undermine confidence for business, investors and consumers in committing to measures which would reduce carbon emissions - especially when some green alternatives are still significantly more expensive than current options.”
MPs warned: “Currently, the government does not plan to report spending in pursuit of its net zero objectives, which the Department considers may be challenging to separate from other costs.
“While we acknowledge the challenge, which will increase over time as behavioural changes are embedded, this should definitely not be a reason for the Department, working with HM Treasury, to shy
away from tracking and reporting public money spent on achieving its net zero objectives and outcomes achieved.”
But it’s not just the amount of taxpayers’ money that worries MPs. It’s the amount that you and I will have to pay. And they warned that the Treasury doesn’t appear to know.
The inquiry said: “HM Treasury was reluctant to be drawn on the future costs of achieving net zero... to publish policy without commensurate funding merely amounts to an aspiration not a real intention by government.
“At a time when people are worried about their energy bills, government must be clearer about the costs facing consumers, households and business of achieving its net zero objectives.”
The MPs warned they do not have “any confidence that there is a clear plan, and we highlighted our concern that HM Treasury and HM Revenues & Customs (HMRC) have taken a very limited view of tax so far and could not clearly explain to us how the tax system is to be used in achieving the government’s environmental goals.”
An example is the goal of increasing ownership of electric vehicles.
This is clearly a good thing, as it provides many benefits to the environment. But it will also mean that all the money the Treasury gets from taxing petrol, and petrol-driven vehicles, will dry up, so there needs to be some sort of plan about how to replace it or, perhaps, how to do without it.
No such plan exists, the MPs warn. They want the Government to produce a report every year explaining how much the “net zero” policy is costing the Treasury, and the public.
The Committee said: “We expect this to take the form of annual reports that include the updated costs to 2050 and the amount spent in that year in the public sector to achieve net zero as well as the impact on consumers, households, businesses and local and central government across all sectors and departments and what the expected carbon dioxide reductions will be.”