In other news today... we @instituteforgov have a report out on another of the massive challenges government faces - net zero. Thread with some key points:
More than a year on from adopting the target, and with little over a year to go until it hosts COP26, the UK is a long way off track and lacks a credible plan for meeting its target
The UK has reduced emissions substantially in the power sector. But to get on track, emissions will need to fall in much more difficult sectors, where progress stalled. Unlike with the progress so far, these changes will go to the heart of people’s lives.
The UK faces an equally pressing task to adapt to the impacts of climate change - but there has been a loss of focus here and the UK is poorly prepared for impacts including hotter summers and more severe flooding.
We identify 7 requirements for tackling climate change - the absence of these has held back progress to date
We make a bunch of recommendations on how govt needs to change... First of all - as a prerequisite for such a big change - we think the prime minister needs to this much more seriously. So far political leadership has been lacking.
We think responsibility for climate change needs to move from BEIS (which lacks clout) to the Cabinet Office, with a new net zero unit developing a plan and holding departments to account.
We think the Treasury needs a much bigger role than it has had so far - and should review tax policy and project appraisal to align it with the UK’s target and embed net zero in the next spending review
Despite the scale of change coming in people’s lives (changes to how we travel, heat our homes, eat and drink) most people have not heard of ‘net zero’. Building on the Climate Assembly, we think government needs to communicate much better and involve the public in decisions
Parliament struggles to focus on climate change - we think it needs to create a new ‘net zero committee’ to hold government to account
All of this needs to start to happen now - it cannot wait until after the recovery from coronavirus or the Brexit negotiations. There is a big risk that the UK lacks credibility as host of COP26 if it does not even look like it is serious about its own targets.
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