The latest
official figures from BEIS reveal that the UK is seriously
behind in its performance to meet its own carbon budgets.
Crucially these projections are based on old, less ambitious
carbon budgets - which means the UK is actually significantly
further behind where it needs to be to meet the legal target of
being net zero by 2050.
is expected to soon release a '10 point low-carbon
plan' to set out his plans to tackle climate change. Labour is
calling on to ensure this plan meets the scale of the challenge,
and crucially creates jobs now to help tackle the unemployment
emergency.
Labour's Green Economic Recovery calls for £30bn capital
investment to be brought forward as part of a rapid stimulus
package to invest in low-carbon sectors in the next 18 months.
The IPPR
estimates the Government is currently £33bn a year over this
Parliament off target in what needs to be invested to meet net
zero by 2050.
MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy
and Industrial Strategy, said:
"It's good the Government is waking up to the fact climate change
is one of the most important defining issues we will face in the
years ahead.
"But the figures are stark - the UK is seriously behind the
Government's own climate targets. Worryingly these are older,
less ambitious targets and Ministers haven't managed to even meet
them.
"What we need this week is a plan, not a piecemeal set of points.
It needs to be ambitious enough to meet the scale of the
challenge, and it needs to reflect the urgency of creating
hundreds of thousands of jobs now."
Ends
Notes to Editors
BEIS figures - p.14 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/931323/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2019.pdf
