The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) will publish its
recommendation on the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget in
September 2020, CCC Chairman Lord Deben has announced.
The Sixth Carbon Budget, required under the Climate Change Act,
will provide ministers with advice on the volume of greenhouse
gases the UK can emit during the period 2033-2037. It will set
the path to the UK’s new net-zero
emissions target in 2050, as the first carbon budget to
be set into law following that commitment.
The advice will be published three months before it is required
by the Climate Change Act to ensure that it precedes the pivotal
international climate change conference (COP26) due to take place
in Glasgow in December 2020.
CCC Chairman, Lord Deben, advised the Government of the
Committee’s intention in a letter to the
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke MP.
The letter sets out the Committee’s expectations for the
Treasury’s planned review of how the costs of the transition to a
net-zero economy by 2050 can be funded and distributed fairly.
The Committee called on the Treasury to conduct the review in its
May 2019 advice to Government on
setting a net-zero target for the UK. The Committee sees
the review as crucial in ensuring a successful transition and
recommend that the review is a key input to next year’s spending
review and budget, and longer-term policy direction.
Lord Deben’s letter recommends, amongst other things, that:
- The Treasury review develops a plan for funding
decarbonisation and, most importantly, examines the distribution
of costs for businesses, household and the Exchequer
- Considers near-term as well as long-term decarbonisation
funding needs and policy implications.
Delivering Net Zero will require a range of actions, which must
begin immediately, including: large-scale roll-out of energy
efficiency and low-carbon heating; a scaled-up market for
electric vehicles; increased share of electricity from low-carbon
sources; significant investment in
CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure;
increased tree planting rates and various other actions including
the encouragement of societal change to diets and travel habits,
and international coordination on aviation and shipping.
Read Lord Deben’s letter
to Simon Clarke MP in full.
