June 28, 2023

expert reaction to CCC’s ‘Progress in reducing emissions – 2023 Report to Parliament’

The report to Parliament was published by the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

Prof Mike Berners-Lee, Lancaster Environment Centre, said:

“This report is a depressing account of the UK Government’s failure to honour its commitments. The rest of the world, along with UK citizens, are realising that when the UK Government commits to something, it doesn’t always mean much. Promises of strong climate action, followed by such a lame response, along with approval of new coal, oil and gas, are an insult and make the UK look both ridiculous and insincere.”

Prof Amanda Maycock, from the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science at the University of Leeds. She said:

“After several decades of strong progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through picking the ‘low hanging fruit’, the UK government is now hitting the hard part of the exam and has some way to go before proving it can remain a first-class student. The report by the CCC highlights many areas where the UK government needs to get on with its revision and hand in its homework on time. There is a great deal at stake for us all.”

Prof Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), said:

“CREDS research confirms the assessment by the Climate Change Committee that progress on reducing energy demand is too slow to meet UK climate commitments. Much more investment is needed in home insulation, heat pump installation, electric vehicles and active travel. Increased Government support is urgently needed to deliver action at the required rate.”

Prof Jo Patterson, Director of Research at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, said:                           

“Having carried out many whole energy system retrofits in typical homes in Wales, I would like to express my concern around the focus on installing air source heat pumps (ASHP) without being clear that there is a need for the energy efficiency/fabric of the home to be improved first with someone with appropriate skills to make a decision.

“Our research has shown that an ASHP installed in poorly insulated homes will cost the resident significantly more than they would be paying with either gas or oil as a heating source, unless combined with appropriate solar photovoltaics and/or a battery.  It is appreciated that an ASHP will help towards carbon reduction but this cannot be to the detriment of significantly increased bills to households that are usually the most vulnerable in terms of fuel poverty and health.

“Buildings, particularly housing, cannot be improved without a properly skilled sector to ensure retrofits are carried out to a high enough standard with appropriate measures. The supply chain have to be trained and upskilled to do this properly and now.”

Dr Chris Jones, Research Fellow, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, said:

“The Committee’s progress update shows the Government is snoozing through its own alarm and needs to wake up and act decisively to futureproof our energy system.

“The report details opportunities the UK has let slip on energy efficiency and new technology in homes and industry, nature restoration, planning reform and cleaner travel. Effective policies to do these things would have put us in a stronger position to tackle climate change and brought forward the long term co-benefits of reduced energy demand and less imported energy.

“There is so much more we can do, and much more quickly. That means robust leadership to get the job done on retrofitting homes, more trees, electrifying industry and travel, and it means looking beyond technology to ways we can live better with the resources available for a sustainable living planet.”

Prof Jim Hall FREng, Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said:

“With 27 years left to hit the Net Zero target in 2050, the Committee on Climate Change’s annual Progress Report to Parliament is stark reading. The CCC’s confidence in the achievement of the UK’s 2030 target and the Fifth and Sixth Carbon Budgets, which will keep the UK on track to Net Zero, has markedly declined from last year. The CCC complains that not only is policy development too slow, but, crucially, the Committee doubts the government’s commitment and capacity to deliver – whilst also challenging the opposition’s unwillingness ‘to lead, lest some people don’t like the decisions that are being made’. Many of the important graphs are going in the right direction – for example renewable electricity capacity increased in 2022, but not at the rate required to meet the Government’s targets to decarbonize the power sector. The UK installed a mere 72,000 new heat pumps in 2022, which is making the government’s target of 600,000 per year by 2028 look increasingly implausible. In his last report as Chair of the CCC, Lord Deben urged the Government ‘to find the courage to place climate change once again at the heart of its leadership’.”

Prof Aoife Foley, Chair in Net Zero at The University of Manchester, said:

“I think we need to be positive in that the UK is overall doing well, comparatively to others globally. In fact, the UK made the top ten of the Green Future Index 2022 with others like Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and France. There’s a lot of finger wagging and negativity and I fear scientific commentary for the public, and for sectors like aviation, agriculture and building is becoming very polarising. The UK is aggressive in clean energy investing, and that will give us a global edge. I firmly believe that the UK can be a global market leader, and the roadblocks, pitfalls and issues highlighted by CCC will help that planning and mapping of alternative strategies and technologies.”

Prof Phil Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at Bristol, and Director of the EPSRC-funded Supergen Energy Networks Hub, said:

“It is clearly disappointing that the UK’s progress against our decarbonisation targets has stalled in recent years. As the CCC say, Net Zero must come back onto the agenda with renewed vigour. It is imperative that policies are aligned with our aspirations and unfortunately in many cases they are not.

“Energy networks are crucial to our future decarbonisation and will require significant investment and the integration of smart technologies to ensure they are not a barrier to decarbonisation. Currently there are hundreds of gigawatts of low carbon generation waiting in multi-year queues for a grid connection. This situation needs to be addressed with great urgency.”

Dr Phil Williamson, Honorary Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, said:

“For a government that has prioritised delivery, this is a damning report.  Consider it to be the Ofsted of UK climate policy:  when the proportion of key performance indicators that are on track has fallen from 36% to just 26% in the past year (excluding those that are too early to say, data not reported or where there is no benchmark or target), the overall assessment grade has to be inadequate.  Something has gone very badly wrong: it is time for special measures.”

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald FREng, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair, University of Cambridge, said:

“The report of the Climate Change Committee is chastening – we are simply not moving fast enough. And this is in a time of incredibly high fossil fuel prices. The time to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency is now. Alarmingly, installation rates of energy efficiency measures fell further in 2022. This has to be addressed since not only is it an effective way to reduce emissions, it will also help consumers reduce their energy bills which we know are crippling for many right now. I remain perplexed as to why the government is delaying the decision on hydrogen for heating in homes. It is now widely accepted that it is much better to bolster investment in the grid and provide incentives for heat pumps; the number of wind turbines needed for provision of heating is about 6X if hydrogen is the energy vector instead of electricity and heat pumps.”

Prof Dave Reay, Chair in Carbon Management, Executive Director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, University of Edinburgh, said:

“This is a typically to-the-point assessment by the Climate Change Committee of progress made towards Net Zero by the UK Government.

“Like a bad magician, the Government seems to think that hand waving and shiny climate tech can distract everyone from the reality that they are failing on climate change. Yes, the scale and speed of emissions cuts required is eye-watering and, yes, the Government has a lot of other crises on its plate. Yet this ongoing failure to grasp the nettle of Net Zero delivery puts the future of our entire society at risk.

“If the UK is to even get close to meeting its commitments on climate change then the Government must now pull one hell of a big emissions bunny out of its hat.”

Prof Sam Fankhauser, Professor of Climate Economics and Policy at the Smith School, University of Oxford, said:

“The CCC has sent the Government a timely reminder that in 2023 we have entered the Fourth Carbon Budget. This is when decarbonisation begins in earnest. Over the next five years emissions must fall by 24 percentage points, three times faster than until now.

“The acceleration is not arbitrary. In the electricity sector, and arguably in surface transport, we have reached tipping points, where clean is becoming the default option. This paves the way for a rapid roll out, but only if the Government can provide the necessary support infrastructure.

“UK climate policy is stagnating just as other countries are upping their game: the European Union with its Fit for 55 programme and the US with the Inflation Reduction Act, but also smaller countries like Switzerland and South Korea, which have both upgraded their climate laws.”

‘Progress in reducing emissions – 2023 Report to Parliament’ was published by the Climate Change Committee at 00:01 UK time on Wednesday 28th June 2023.

Declared interests

Dr Phil Williamson: “No competing interests.”

Prof Dave Reay: “chairs the CCC’s Expert Advisory Group on Workers & Skills. No other interests declared.”

Prof Sam Fankhauser: “is a former member of the CCC (2008-16)”

For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.