Comment on Select Committee reports on net zero and COP26

Commenting on reports published today by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Public Accounts Committees on UK progress towards both its net zero emissions target and its ambitions for the COP26 UN climate summit, Richard Black, Senior Associate at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “These reports will make uncomfortable reading for a Prime Minister proclaiming climate leadership – one saying he doesn’t have a plan at home, the other that he doesn’t have a vision internationally. Coming on the back of a Budget that didn’t even try to get the Conservatives on track to their net zero target, the conclusion that they don’t have a plan for reaching it, just months before the UK hosts a major UN climate summit for the first time, should stimulate some serious thinking right across Whitehall.

“And the lack of clarity on the vision for COP26 is seriously concerning. It is surely obvious that COP26 has to set the global economy on track to net zero emissions by mid-century. This means brokering agreements that kick-start decarbonisation in various sectors and it also means Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Rishi Sunak stepping up to the plate on finance to help the poorest nations, an area where government has already made a big lift harder by cutting its commitment to overseas aid. Failure to sort this will fatally compromise COP26 – and the failure will lie squarely at the door of Downing St.”