Comment on Climate Change Committee's (CCC) Mitigation Progress Report

"Progress is being made on reducing emissions to net zero, the only way to stop the worst impacts of climate change, and polls consistently show the public want to see more action on energy security and climate despite the rhetoric from some commentators. Events of the last few days [3] show transitioning to net zero remains important for our national security too, as oil and gas prices are still volatile and the UK's reliance on gas makes us particularly vulnerable to supply interruptions and price spikes like those we've seen over the gas crisis.

"This is the second year in a row that the Government's advisors have singled out reducing electricity costs, by re-balancing levies, as a priority for unlocking more energy independence as we move away from gas. Lowering electricity costs means more households and industry switching to technologies like electric heat pumps, fuelled more and more by British renewables that will stabilise prices while gas will increasingly come from abroad as the North Sea continues its inevitable decline."

"The Warm Homes Plan, due later this year, has lots to deliver in terms of plans for insulating homes and fitting heat pumps to reduce households vulnerability to gas price volatility. While the UK's heat pump market is growing strongly, there remains lots to do, especially with an incumbent gas industry that may be lobbying for the status quo behind closed doors."

On land, food and farming, Tom Lancaster, ECIU said:

  "Climate change is one of the biggest threats to food security, a fact brought into sharp focus by last years terrible harvest and the fields full of stressed and thin crops now following the warmest and one of the driest springs on record [4]. The evidence is clear that we urgently need a greater focus on  reducing emissions from farming and land use.

"As today's report finds, 'substantial action' is needed to meet future targets for agriculture and yet there is little sign of a plan emerging to drive this progress forward. Given the threat posed by unmitigated climate change to farming and food production, a more urgent plan for getting to net zero emissions for agriculture is now a clear imperative for UK food security, including renewed investment in sustainable farming schemes."

On Transport, Colin Walker, ECIU said: 

"With the number of EVs on our roads expected to double every two years, the CCC is clear that they are going to have an increasingly critical role to play in delivering hundreds of pounds in savings to UK's drivers.

"But, as the Committee has identified, the Government's recent changes to the ZEV mandate have the potential to undermine this UK success story, by incentivising the sale of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) at the expense of EVs. The Government has also ignored advice in the CCC's report by allowing the sale of regular hybrid vehicles - which offer marginal improvements in CO2 emissions over standard petrol cars - from 2030 to 2035. These moves could keep millions of people stuck driving dirtier and more expensive petrol-engined cars for longer [5]".