Climate

Boris Johnson’s strategy for cutting emissions to net zero is a major step forward – but will fail to reduce demand for flying, the government’s climate advisers have said.The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said the strategy set out by Mr Johnson’s government last week had left some big gaps, including measures to reduce the number of flights.The independent committee which advises UK ministers said the new strategy had “nothing to say” on limit the growth in aviation sector or encouraging diet changes away from meat – insisting these steps are crucial in cutting emissions.“The government does not include an explicit ambition on diet change, or reductions in the growth of aviation, and policies for managing travel demand have not been developed to match the funding that has been committed,” said the CCC.The committee added: “These remain valuable options with major co-benefits and can help manage delivery risks around a techno-centric approach. They must be explored further with a view to early action.”The committee has released an assessment of the strategy published by the government last week on meeting the UK’s legal goal to cut emissions to net zero by 2050 – which included action on home heating, clean cars and power, and planting more trees.The CCC said the strategy was an achievable and affordable plan that would bring jobs and wider benefits. The strategy’s ambitions also align to the UK’s legal targets of net zero by 2050 and a 78 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035, the advisers said.But the committee said there were still some gaps, arguing that more had to be done to tackle emissions from agriculture and improve home energy efficiency, as well as encouraging some big behavioural changes.The experts said it government should do more to reduce the demand for high-carbon activities such as flying.It follows the deletion a document which recommended strong “interventions” to tackle aviation emissions, including curbs on airport expansion and subsidies, from the government’s website last week.A research document commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – taken down hours after the net zero was published – had urged ministers to consider a series of “interventions”.In a report released on Tuesday, the CCC also said further plans were needed to improve home energy efficiency in the 60 per cent of UK households that are owner-occupied but not in fuel poverty.And while there is more focus across government on net zero, that does not constitute a full “net zero” test on all decisions – raising the risk of policy or planning decisions that are not compatible with climate efforts, the CCC said.The assessment has been published just days before the UK hosts the crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow, where world leaders will gather to drive forward efforts to combat global warming.Committee chairman Lord Deben said: “The net zero strategy is a genuine step forward. The UK was the first major industrialised nation to set net zero into law – now we have policy plans to get us there.”He said ministers had made the “big decisions” to cut carbon out of the power sector by 2035, phase out diesel and petrol vehicles, and back heat pumps for homes. “I applaud their ambition. Now they must deliver these goals and fill in the remaining gaps.”He said the committee will continues to “hold their feet to the fire” as it was required to under legislation mandating for emissions cuts and to advise UK and devolved governments.A government spokeswoman said: “We value the Climate Change Committee’s expert advice as we work to implement our comprehensive plan to finish the job and eradicate the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.“As the committee rightly highlights, our world-leading net zero strategy builds on the UK’s proven track record of having decarbonised faster than any other G7 country in recent decades.” More

Rich countries will be three years late in putting together a long-promised $100bn climate crisis fund for poor nations, a pre-Cop26 study says.The target is seen as crucial to winning the trust of developing countries to make their own CO2 cutting commitments in Glasgow next week, but stood $20bn short in 2019.Now the study confirms the original target of $100bn by 2020 has been missed, but expresses “confidence that it would be met in 2023”.A disappointed Oxfam said: “This plan claims that rich nations will meet their target three years late.”Germany and Canada were handed responsibility for piling pressure onto the richest nations to make commitments to stump up the missing billions, in the run up to Cop26.The report says its projection that $100bn will be achieved in 2023 is “based on pledges made by developed countries as of 20 October, 2021”.The UK has pledged around £2.3bn each year until 2025, but The Independent revealed the cash will be swiped from the shrunken foreign aid budget – despite a requirement that they be “additional”.The delay until 2023 was attacked by aid groups including ActionAid International, which called the announcement “the bare minimum needed to build trust in the climate talks”.“Making good on a promise made more than a decade ago is setting a pretty low bar for a successful Cop26,” said Teresa Anderson, the organisation’s climate policy coordinator.She also warned that 71 per cent of support is in the form of loans, which is “pushing climate vulnerable communities deeper into debt and poverty”.Jan Kowalzig, senior climate policy adviser at Oxfam, pointed to “the money that poorer countries are owed for every year they fell short”.“This shortfall, which started to accumulate in 2020, will likely amount to several tens of billions of dollars,” he said.“These are achievable amounts of money – governments have spent trillions on Covid-19 fiscal recovery packages, which show their ability to act in an emergency. This is an emergency.”The report fails to set out which countries are providing how much climate finance – but Joe Biden pledged, last month, to double the US’s contribution to $11.4bn per year.The UK has declined to increase its pledge – made two years ago – as a respected thinktank suggested it is shortchanging developing countries by around £1.9bn a year.Germany and France are among leading contributors, while Australia, Canada and the US are low payers – while Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece have been criticised for confusion over their donations.The UK government admitted it was “disappointing that the goal has not been met so far”, but Cop26 president Alok Sharma said “progress” was now clear.The announcement was “a step towards rebuilding trust and gives developing countries more assurance of predictable support,” he argued.But Matthew Pennycock, Labour’s climate change spokesman, called the wait until 2023 “of the utmost concern”.“This is a matter of trust for states on the frontline of the climate crisis and every wealthy country falling short, including the UK, will need to do more to reassure them,” he said. More

Boris Johnson joked that feeding people to animals could help solve the biodiversity crisis facing the planet during a climate press conference with children on Monday.The prime minister was discussing the challenges facing the natural world with conservation charity WWF UK’s chief executive Tanya Steele.“I think we need to bring nature back,” she said. “Our planet, 97 per cent of the mass of mammals on this planet is humans and our animals, our domestic animals.“Just 3 per cent is left for the wild.”The prime minister responded that it was “so sad” before adding: “We could feed some of the human beings to the animals, that would, that would be…”Ms Steele jokingly replied: “We could have a vote later and ask if there’s any candidates.“ The off-script remark came after Mr Johnson surprised environmental campaigners by claiming recycling plastic “doesn’t work”.During the press conference at No 10 he said: “Recycling isn’t the answer. Recycling… it doesn’t begin to address the problem.”Ms Steele said: “We have to reduce, we have to reuse – I do think we need to do a little bit of recycling, PM, and have some system to do so.”But Mr Johnson replied: “It doesn’t work.”Responding to those comments, the Recycling Association said the prime minister had “completely lost the plastic plot”.Chief executive Simon Ellin told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “Wow, I think is the first answer. It’s very disappointing. I think he has completely lost the plastic plot here, if I’m honest.“We need to reduce and I would completely agree with him on that but his own government has just invested in the resources and waste strategy, which is the most ground-breaking recycling legislation and plan that we’ve ever seen, with recycling right at the front of it.“So he seems to be completely conflicting with his own government’s policy.” More

Nicola Sturgeon has said Cop26 needs to see “significant uplift” in the ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s most polluting countries, and also said the conference must recognise growing levels of anger at inaction, particularly from younger generations.She also suggested the controversial Cambo oilfield in the North Sea, which has been backed by the UK government, should be reviewed.Speaking in front of an audience of students and young people in Glasgow a week before the UN’s climate summit begins, Ms Sturgeon called on world leaders to take “credible action” to achieve net zero.She also warned that without the conference resulting in more determined action from governments, such events could serve to further inflame tensions over politicians’ handling of the climate crisis.Speaking about recognising the “fundamental issues of fairness and justice that lie at the heard of the climate crisis”, she said young people “will live their lives with the climate that my, and preceding generations have created”.“All leaders at Cop26 must truly understand the concern, the entirely justified anger, that so many young people across the world feel.”“I know that in some ways, what Cop26 represents – rich countries coming together to haggle and negotiate over the future of the planet – might intensify rather than alleviate your anger.”“On the need for climate action there is no doubt at all that your generation is far ahead of mine.“I know that some of the most challenging interactions I’ve had on climate policy have been with young activists – I’ve been pushed to go much further and faster, and quite rightly so.”She said one key measure of whether the conference could be considered a success was how it was regarded by young people.She said: “For all of us in positions of leadership today, there is a really important standard that we must hold ourselves to: Can we look you and your peers across the world in the eye and say we’re doing enough? Right now the simple answer to that question is no, we’re not.“So a fundamental test of Cop26 is that it starts to turn that no into yes.”Speaking more widely about what was required to get to this point, Ms sturgeon focused on the countries with the biggest greenhouse gas emissions, which she said must “step up the most”, and urged them to sign up to emissions cuts by 2030.Countries must “be clear in their ambition to reach net zero”, she said.“To be credible their pledges must be backed by action.”“The hard fact is this: keeping 1.5 alive – which has become the strapline almost, for Cop26 – is vital, but it mustn’t just become a face-saving slogan, it must be real.” More

Two in three voters in the UK support tax rises to pay for measures to mitigate the climate crisis, exclusive new polling for The Independent has found.Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure to avoid tax hikes from Conservative MPs sceptical of the government’s net zero plans as he prepares to deliver his Budget on Wednesday.But the idea of raising taxes to deal with the climate emergency has widespread support from the British public, a survey by Savanta ComRes has revealed.Some 67 per cent of voters said tax rises at the Budget would be “acceptable” if revenue was spent on action to reduce the impact of climate change. Only 22 per cent said they found the idea “unacceptable”.It comes as Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for a windfall tax on gas producers to help pay for the transition to a green economy and provide more support for families struggling with fuel bills.“Fossil fuel companies are raking it in hand over fist through this gas crisis. The least they can do is pay a little more in tax to help struggling families get through the winter,” Sir Ed told The Independent – estimating a windfall tax could raise up to £10bn.He added: “This windfall tax would raise vital funding to insulate people’s homes, slash energy bills and protect skilled jobs. If Rishi Sunak is serious about tackling both the climate emergency and the cost of living crisis, he would introduce this one-off tax.”Boris Johnson claimed Britain could meet its target of net zero emissions by 2050 “without so much as a hair shirt in sight” as he revealed the government’s net zero strategy earlier this week.But a separate Treasury report warned that the country faces new taxes or cuts to public spending to pay for the transition to net zero.Income from fuel duty and vehicle excise duty will all-but disappear as the UK goes green, Mr Sunak’s department conceded – blowing a £37bn black hole in its budget unless “new sources” of revenue are found.Kate Blagojevic, head of climate at Greenpeace UK, said the Savanta ComRes poll for The Independent showed that the government “now has a clear public mandate to fix our tax system in order the help cut emissions”.She added: “Our current tax system isn’t fit for delivering action on the climate emergency. It gives very mixed signals on green growth, innovation and, in the case of energy levies, keeps us hooked on climate-wrecking gas … Voters clearly understand this and want change.”Greenpeace has calculated that an extra £73bn of public investment is needed over the next three years in the push for energy-efficient homes and clean transport. But the campaign group said the extra investment would help create up to 1.8million jobs.Ahead of the next week’s Budget, the campaign group called for Mr Sunak to impose green levies on gas and scrap VAT on green goods such as heat pumps and solar panels.Currently, green levies are imposed on electricity bills but not gas, which is more polluting form of energy. The government is thought to be considering moving the surcharges from electricity to gas.Chris Hopkins, associate director at Savanta ComRes, said voters may support spending on action to tackle climate change in principle, but still need to know how exactly the extra money will be raised.“The public will often tell us they are favour of tax rises to pay for noble causes, but when it comes to paying more tax themselves, support usually wanes,” he said. “The big question for the government, and the opposition calling for it, is what should be taxed more to pay for this?”Labour has said it would spend an extra £28bn each year on helping Britain tackle the climate crisis, saying the money would come from government borrowing. Conservative MP David Davis said fellow backbench Tories are “sick of tax hikes and green spending”. He claimed: “The government’s hell for leather pursuit of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 threatens a huge drop in living standards for our children and grandchildren.”Meanwhile, the Savanta ComRes survey also found high levels of support for tax rises to boost spending on the NHS and social care, raising the minimum wage and investment to “level up” disadvantaged parts of the country.Some 76 per cent of voters are willing to see taxes increase if means more money for the health and social care sector. Some 75 per cent will accept tax hikes for action on low pay, while 65 per cent back higher taxes if money goes to disadvantaged areas. More