Regen has welcomed the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report recommending the UK sets a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and called on government to take immediate action in eight key areas.
Coming the day after the UK Parliament became the world’s first national legislature to declare a climate emergency, the Committee’s report is a reminder that radical steps are needed.
Johnny Gowdy, director at Regen, said:
“This report reflects the dramatic reduction in the cost of delivering renewable energy, and the economic and technological opportunities the UK could harness by positioning itself in the vanguard of climate change action. What happens next is the key question.
The actions needed are clear. If politicians are serious then they could begin now to take radical measures which would put us on a path to long-term decarbonisation. We are recommending eight actions that can be taken immediately.”
- Put climate change impact at the heart of government policy, regulation and investment decisions, including, for example, setting explicit decarbonisation objectives for Ofgem.
- Announce a commitment to deploy 45 GW of new renewable electricity capacity by 2032. This could be achieved with continued support for offshore wind and the removal of the artificial barriers to onshore wind and solar.
- Bring forward the commitment to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles to a more meaningful date of 2030.
- Regulate for net-zero targets for all new homes and commercial buildings.
- Bring aviation and marine into the UK’s climate change targets and commit to a reduction in aviation emissions – which will question the merits of building Heathrow’s third runway.
- Commit to extend the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme beyond its current end date of 2021 to accelerate the uptake of low carbon heating technology.
- Announce a massively increased programme to incentivise the deployment of energy efficiency measures in UK homes and businesses, saving both carbon and energy costs.
- Back these measures with industrial and skills training policies to equip UK businesses and workforces to deliver decarbonisation locally and compete in the global economy.