The UK government is way off track for net zero targets

The UK Government's advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, has released its latest progress report, and its findings aren't good. The scathing report comprehensively criticises the UK Government's plans for Net Zero, finding that they are not meeting targets across the board.

According to the body, progress on climate has gotten worse in the last year, and we're now even less likely to hit our medium-term climate targets than we were before.

So what does the report say?

The report makes it clear that "expansion of fossil fuel production is not in line with Net Zero", and the chair, Lord Deben, said that it is “utterly unacceptable” to be granting new oil and gas licences.

The UK government needs to commit to no new oil and gas licenses if it has any hopes of getting back on track.

Upgrades to the grid are moving too slowly to allow us to meet our climate targets. This is especially important for remote areas where the grid is vulnerable to bad weather and operators are not as efficient.

Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before, despite soaring energy bills and the cost of living crisis. We should be improving by 1 million per year, but we're now down to a sketchy 160,000 a year.

There has been little progress on transport emissions. The government “made a political choice” to allow an increase in road traffic, instead of encouraging public transport. The CCC recommends that we "Prioritise delivery of a new, transparent public transport fare structure that offers more affordable and reliable travel, ensuring fairness in relation to more carbon-intensive choices".

Renewables are being installed too slowly and the government has cut support in recent years - including ending 'Feed-in Tariffs', a scheme designed to promote the uptake of renewable and low-carbon electricity generation.

This isn't good enough and we need the next elected UK government to get us back on track to Net Zero by 2050.

You can help do that by supporting our upcoming campaign - make sure you're signed up for our newsletter to hear first when it kicks off next month.

You can find the full report here.