Following a final set of discussions last weekend,
the members of Climate Assembly UK have concluded work on their
reflections and recommendations due to form a report to
Parliament in July.
Following three in-person weekends and three online
sessions, Climate Assembly UK has finished its discussions on the
UK’s path to net zero. Since January, the Assembly has
heard views on a range of options for getting to net zero,
across themes including how we travel, how we heat our homes and
what we buy.
The assembly members have had to complete their work
against the backdrop of a challenging 2020 – including battling
through Storm Ciara, and moving online amidst the coronavirus
pandemic. The members were drawn from all walks of life and are
representative of the UK population in terms of age, gender,
ethnicity, rural and urban areas, educational attainment,
regional location and attitudes to climate change.
Their report will act as a valuable body of evidence for
all politicians and policy makers on public preferences for how
to get to net zero. As the UK prepares to host COP26 in 2021, the
UK Government has promised a ‘year of climate action’, and
assembly members have stressed their desire to see their work
turned into tangible progress on net zero. One Assembly member
said:
“As a member of Climate Assembly UK I am proud that,
despite the many challenges faced by us all during the Covid-19
pandemic, we have still managed to finish the work needed to
successfully provide the six Select Committees with proposals to
meet the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. I hope
Parliament will take time to consider these proposals with due
care and respect.”
-
Adrian, 52, Northern Ireland
The Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change
(CCC) and one of the Assembly’s Expert Leads, Chris Stark, has
already indicated that the assembly’s work will feed into the
CCC’s ongoing analysis of the UK’s performance on building a
low-carbon economy. The six commissioning Select Committees will
also use the results of the Assembly’s work to inform and support
their work in holding the Government to account on meeting its
legally binding target of reaching net zero by 2050.
Throughout the process, the Assembly has received the
advice and guidance from numerous experts and industry
representatives. The four Expert Leads were supported by a
stakeholder group (the Advisory Panel) with representation from
organisations such as Citizens’ Advice, the Adam Smith Institute
and Greenpeace, and also an Academic panel. Together these groups
ensured that the information received by the assembly was
balanced, accurate and comprehensive. All speaker presentations,
transcripts and slides are available from www.climateassembly.uk as
well as recordings of the assembly’s plenary Q&A sessions
with the speakers.
