Committee on Climate Change

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What the new green watchdog can learn from the Committee on Climate Change

Posted on 20 September, 2018 by Green Alliance blog Leave a comment

This post is by Dr Ajay Gambhir, senior research fellow at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the UK Climate Change Act, the first of a kind legislation to hold a country to a long term greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal. One of its central components, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), is actually a year older than the act itself, having been established in a non-legislated ‘shadow’ form in 2007, to prepare advice on what the act’s long term emissions goal should be and how it could be achieved. Read more

Why we need an environment and climate watchdog

Posted on 10 August, 2018 by Chaitanya Kumar Leave a comment

This blog was first published by Business Green.

The unprecedented, prolonged heatwave that Britain and much of the northern hemisphere is experiencing seems to have brought climate change, albeit temporarily, to the forefront of our public and political discourse. A timely report from the Environmental Audit Committee has warned there will be 7,000 heat-related deaths every year in the UK by 2050, triple today’s rate, if we do not take further action. Former energy and climate secretary Amber Rudd penned a Times op-ed stating climate change is here and rising global temperatures are already baked in. But the thrust of her argument was that a madcap approach to Brexit could unravel Britain’s ambitious climate goals. Addressing climate change, she said, requires “co-operation, shared sovereignty and internationalism.”

Political leadership

Why the Road to Zero strategy won’t do the job

Posted on 11 July, 2018 by Chaitanya Kumar Leave a comment

The government published its Road to Zero strategy this week, as a pathway to decarbonise the road transport sector, the source of a quarter of the UK’s annual carbon emissions. The strategy also aims to show how this transition will make Britain a global leader in low carbon vehicles and their associated infrastructure. Read more

Key points from the Committee on Climate Change’s report on the Clean Growth Strategy

Posted on 17 January, 2018 by Chaitanya Kumar One comment

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) today published its analysis of the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), the government’s blueprint for meeting the targets it is legally bound to achieve under the Climate Change Act.

The analysis highlights a worrying gap (of 10-65 MTCO2e) between the government’s existing policies and commitments and the requirements set under the fourth and fifth carbon budgets. To bridge this gap and minimise delivery risks, the CCC says, the government must urgently firm up the policies, proposals and intentions laid out in the Clean Growth

Low carbon future

Top five messages from the Committee on Climate Change’s latest report

Posted on 14 July, 2017 by Chaitanya Kumar 5 comments

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned in its latest annual progress report that the UK is significantly behind its 2030 targets to reduce carbon emissions and, without additional policy and new strategies, we will fail to meet our legally binding commitments. Here are five highlights worth drawing out from the report:

Low carbon future

UK climate strategy: strong ambition followed by weak delivery

Posted on 10 May, 2016 by Matthew Spencer One comment

The recent letter from conservative backbenchers supporting the fifth carbon budget reminds us again that the Climate Change Act is worth its weight in gold. Eight years on from its agreement the act retains strong cross party support, despite concerted attempts to make climate change a partisan issue. Its regular budget setting cycle means the government regularly has to restate and reappraise the longer term direction of the economy. Carbon budgets have provided one of the few points of stability in a period of high policy volatility. Read more

What does the Paris agreement mean for the UK?

Posted on 14 December, 2015 by Matthew Spencer 3 comments

1fe618a8-cbea-4c11-843b-acdd28e1d355 Few political deals deserve to be called historic but, as President Obama tweeted a few minutes after the gavel came down in Paris, “this is huge”. It’s huge because it’s a global agreement which means every country has to review its effort every five years. Historic because it’s a one way street to net zero emissions, and it will accelerate the low carbon technology shift we are already seeing in the global energy economy. Read more

Local authorities need more incentives to cut carbon

Posted on 29 May, 2012 by Green Alliance blog One comment

This is a guest post by David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change

Our report on how local authorities can reduce emissions originated in questions raised as the Energy Bill passed through Parliament in 2010. In particular, there was a suggestion that local authorities should be set carbon budgets. Greg Barker’s response was to commission us to provide advice on the role of local authorities in reducing emissions.