Government hint at the creation of a cabinet sub-committee on climate change in response to CCC

DATE

Oct 15, 2019

TAG

Decarbonising Heat, Decarbonising Power, Decarbonising Transport, Working with Westminster

The Government has today responded to the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) annual progress report
The CCC report published in July highlighted that the Government’s policies and plans are insufficient to meet the fourth or fifth carbon budgets
In response, the Government propose establishing new governance arrangements and potentially a new cabinet sub-committee

Earlier this afternoon Andrea Leadsom MP stated that the Government could ‘potentially’ introduce a new cabinet sub-committee on climate change in the Government’s response to the CCC’s annual progress report.

This sub-committee would be part of a proposal to establish new governance arrangements to drive forward cross-government efforts to deliver the net zero target. Additional proposals to ensuring the UK meets the fourth and fifth carbon budgets as well as net zero by 2050 include:

Improving the energy performance of non-domestic buildings – potentially saving businesses around £1 billion per year in energy costs by 2030;
Developing a new, holistic Transport Decarbonisation Plan to step up the pace of progress towards a cleaner, more sustainable and innovative transport network;

This response comes three months after the CCC claimed that only one of 25 headline policy actions outlined in the 2018 progress report had been delivered and that the Government’s own projections demonstrate that its policies and plans are insufficient to meet the fourth or fifth carbon budgets. The report also highlighted that this policy gap had widened in the last year.

Commenting on the proposals, Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, Chief Executive at the REA said:

“The CCC were right to highlight the inefficiency of the current disjointed approach, achieving our legally binding carbon targets cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of a handful of departments across the Government. Responsibility and accountability for implementing the policies and infrastructure urgently needed to address the climate emergency must sit at the top, with No 10 and the Cabinet Office. The Government must treat this as an emergency and must oversee the delivery.

“Andrea Leadsom and the Government must follow through on this proposal or risk missing not only the fourth and fifth carbon budgets but our net zero target.”

—ENDS—

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

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External Affairs Officer
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Notes to editors

The CCC’s 2019 annual progress report can be found here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/reducing-uk-emissions-2019-progress-report-to-parliament/
The full response from the Government can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839555/CCS0819884374-001_Government_Response_to_the_CCC_Progress_Report_2019_Web_Accessible.pdf
Andrea Leadsom’s statement can be found here: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-10-15/HCWS3/

About the Renewable Energy Association (REA)

The REA is the UK’s largest trade association for renewable energy and clean technologies with around 550 members operating across heat, transport, and power. The REA is a not-for-profit organisation that represents renewable energy and clean technology companies operating in over fourteen sectors, ranging from biogas and renewable fuels to solar and electric vehicle charging. Membership ranges from major multinationals to sole traders.

For more information, visit: www.r-e-a.net