The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has released a new report criticising the government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan.
The Carbon Budget Delivery Plan builds on the UK’s plans to achieve net zero by 2050. However, the CCC has expressed a lack of confidence in the UK’s ability to meet its goals from 2030 onwards.
Moreover, it branded the UK’s action towards achieving net zero as ‘worryingly slow’.
The Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) has echoed these concerns and said that the government must be more decisive in deploying proven, future-proof decentralised energy solutions.
What is the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan?
The Carbon Budget Delivery Plan aims to fulfil net zero while supporting economic growth and prosperity.
Parliament passed the Climate Change Act in 2008, legislating the UK’s framework for setting carbon budgets. Under the Act, the UK is legally required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% by 2050.
Therefore, the current plan aims to help achieve this goal and sets out the timescales over which these policies will come into effect.
The delivery plan also sets out the following:
- Wider matters in connection with carbon budgets;
- The contribution of these proposals and policies to sustainable development; and
- The impact the package has on sectors of the economy.
Climate goals could diminish year by year
The CCC’s overarching message provides a grim outlook, as it is confident that the UK’s climate goals will diminish yearly.
This is reflected in projections for the UK to meet its 2030 goals under the Sixth Carbon Budget and reduce emissions by 68% as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement. Targets have significantly worsened compared to last year.
The CCC has also expressed that the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan falls short regarding targets for reducing carbon emissions.
Transport remains the nation’s highest emitting sector, accounting for 23% of UK emissions in 2022.
The CCC has little confidence that transport reduction levels will be met based on current policies. Plans laid out in the government’s Carbon Budget Delivery suggest that emissions from the sector must be reduced by 58%.
However, the CCC commented that this would “result in an abatement shortfall which must be made up to meet legislated carbon budgets.”
The UK’s electricity grid and generation accounted for 11% of UK emissions last year. The Carbon Budget Delivery Plan targets a 44 MtCO2e decline in emissions from this sector to comply with the Sixth Carbon Budget.
Grid decarbonisation is the foundation of the net-zero movement, and the UK has made notable strides in this area. The emissions intensity of UK power generation decreased by 7% last year, and low-carbon sources accounted for 56% of electricity generated in 2022, 9% higher than 2021 levels.
The CCC attributes this mainly to the wind sector, which saw generation reach a record 80 TWh, up 24% in 2021 because of a 12% increase in capacity.
The CCC report states that the government is “lacking a credible overall strategy” to deliver its goal of fully decarbonising the sector by 2035.
The report calls on policymakers to publish a comprehensive long-term strategy for this goal that outlines how low-carbon flexibility options, including demand flexibility, storage, hydrogen, gas CCS, and interconnection capacity, will all play a role.
Chris Friedler, Policy Manager at the ADE, said: “Inaction speaks louder than words, and today’s CCC report demonstrates yet again that policy indecision across the decentralised energy sector is hampering efforts to progress a low carbon, low cost, and secure energy future.”
What should the government do to drive real progress in the sector?
The ADE has recommended that to drive real progress in delivering an affordable, modern and decarbonised energy system, the government must make decisive decisions.
Sarah Honan, Policy Manager at the ADE, explained: “A crucial missing link in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan is how we make best use of the renewable infrastructure that will enable decarbonisation by taking a proactive approach to demand clean generation via energy efficiency, demand side response, heat networks, and industrial decarbonisation.
“The ADE is struck by the CCC’s conclusion that a continued lack of a clear roadmap for electricity decarbonisation poses considerable delivery risks for reaching net zero, especially given the government’s current work on reviewing electricity market arrangements.”
The ADE has consistently highlighted clear next steps for the government to outline in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan:
- Urgent action is needed to scale up the broader energy efficiency market rapidly;
- A clearer strategy on the pathway to grid flexibility to decarbonise the power sector in 2035;
- The passage of the Energy Bill will be vital to securing the heat network market; and
- Addressing grid connections and lack of progress on dispersed industrial sites are critical.
