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.
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