The IPPR think tank has responded to the Climate Change Committee
(CCC) progress report to Parliament, to be released on Wednesday.
Luke Murphy, head of the IPPR’s Fair Transition Unit and
associate director for energy and climate at the think tank,
said:
"This damning report makes clear that the UK is failing to
make sufficient progress towards its legally binding climate
targets at home and has abandoned its position of climate
leadership abroad.
"Despite limited progress in some areas, across a whole range
of sectors from transport to energy, homes to industry, and
agriculture and land, there remains a lack of coherent policy and
tangible delivery. The government's plans operate on the basis of
a 'wing and a prayer', placing faith in technological solutions
that have not been delivered at scale.
"The impacts of these failures go well beyond the
environmental. Our energy bills are higher, we're less energy
secure, and we're failing to reap the economic benefits of the
transition to net zero. In the global green race, the UK is still
stuck in the changing room complaining to the referee about the
boots the other runners are wearing.
"By failing to act now, the government is multiplying the
problem future leaders will face and leaving an even more damaged
environment and economy for younger and future
generations."
On the CCC's transport findings, Stephen Frost, principal
research fellow in the fair transition unit at IPPR,
said:
"This report shows the government’s plans for decarbonising
transport are in reverse gear. The lack of ambition in making it
easier for people to walk, cycle, wheel or use public transport
misses the opportunity to improve quality of life for people
across the UK as well as putting delivery of net zero at
risk.
"To begin to address this, the government must urgently
reverse cuts to the active travel budget and commit
transformative funding to ‘levelling up’ public transport outside
of London.
"The CCC is right to recommend that the UK follow the Welsh
government’s leadership and convene an independent panel to
review all road-building projects to ensure alignment with
environmental goals. The government should also be leading a
national debate on motoring taxation, with the public provided a
key role in deciding its future."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. IPPR has researched and reported on the need to transition to
net zero over the past five years. Key publications include:
- IPPR’s Environmental Justice Commission Report (2021):
https://www.ippr.org/files/publications/EJC%20final%20report%20July%2021/fairness-and-opportunity-part2.pdf
- Winning the global green race: Lessons for the UK from the US'
Inflation Reduction Act, IPPR:
http://www.ippr.org/research/publications/winning-the-global-green-race
- All aboard: A plan for fairly decarbonising how people
travel
https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/all-aboard
- Planning for net zero and nature: A better, greener
planning system that empowers local places:
https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/planning-for-net-zero-and-nature
