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6 hours ago
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Giving up two doner kebabs’ worth of meat a week will be enough to keep the UK within safe climate limits by the end of the next decade, as more drastic changes in behaviour can be avoided if the government takes action on greenhouse gases from energy, transport and industry, the UK’s climate advisers have said.
People would need to change their behaviour in some ways, such as by eating about 260g less meat each week, but this was likely to happen gradually and in line with health trends. “We are absolutely not saying everyone needs to be vegan. But we do expect to see a shift in dietary habits,” said Emily Nurse, head of net zero at the Climate Change Committee, which on Wednesday published its official advice to the government on meeting the UK’s target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Flights should be more expensive by the 2040s although the sector could still expand by 10% while meeting emission targets, according to the CCC. In contrast to previous advice that no airport expansion could take place without big cuts to carbon elsewhere, it was not prescriptive about where or how the expansion could occur. It did find that a frequent flyer tax would have broad public support, and called on the aviation industry to take responsibility for reducing the resulting climate impact through investments in sustainable fuels and greater efficiency.
Gas boilers will have to go, people will have to use public transport and walk and cycle more frequently, while homes will need to be much better insulated, saving money as well as carbon, the CCC said.
There is broad public support for these moves, according to a representative citizens’ panel convened by the CCC and other polling. Although rightwing politicians have criticised climate action – Reform party leader Richard Tice calls it “net stupid zero” – the public are clearly in favour, according to Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of the CCC.
“The citizens’ panel were often ahead of even our advice on some of the things they were willing to consider,” she said. “They are interested and want to do their bit. The public really are proud of the UK’s progress on climate action [and] we can’t see any evidence that the public wants us to slow down. What the public worries about is clarity from their politicians. They really want clear messages about what [climate change] means for them and what we’re going to do.”
The CCC, the independent adviser to the government on the climate, set out its advice on cutting emissions from 2038 to 2042, the seventh carbon budget in a series stretching back to the Climate Change Act of 2008. Carbon dioxide and its equivalents must be cut to about a quarter of today’s levels to be on track to meet the legally binding goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Ministers will have until June next year to come up with their detailed response to the findings. Many of the actions needed – from doubling tree planting by 2030, to boosting trams, buses and trains – must be begun in this parliament. Carbon budgets are set every five years, more than a decade before their start date, to lift government eyes beyond their current parliamentary term and force them to consider long-term policy.
While the CCC warned that the UK would need to make major investments – such as a sixfold increase in the number of offshore wind farms, and a doubling of onshore turbines – at a cost of about 0.2% of GDP in the next 15 years, it made clear that all the necessary steps were within reach. Other countries have managed to introduce heat pumps, electric vehicles and home insulation, and investments made now would reap paybacks in significantly lower bills by the 2040s.
Pinchbeck said: “If you are an elected representative who is hostile to renewables, heat pumps, electric vehicles, and some of these measures in the economy, what our numbers say is you are also hostile to your constituents saving £700 on their energy bill and about £700 on their fuel bill.”
Energy costs may rise in the short term, however, which could create problems for the current government. Key to hastening the switch from fossil fuels to clean power is to make electricity cheaper in comparison with gas.
Rather than ripping out gas boilers, they should be changed to heat pumps when they come up for replacement, at the end of their 10-15 year lifecycle, the committee found. By 2030, about 450,000 should be installed per year – the examples of Ireland and the Netherlands show that is possible, according to the CCC. The move is likely to require government intervention and support for poorer households, as are other measures such as home insulation.
Taking action now would lead to lower costs in the future, the report found. Sam Alvis, associate director at the IPPR thinktank, called on ministers to take note. “The sooner we act, the sooner we benefit. Every CCC forecast has shown the cost of action falling,” he said.
Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace, urged the government to go further. “Ministers must be even bolder when it comes to frequent flying and excessive meat consumption. Policies that drive down emissions in these stubborn high-carbon areas will ensure we don’t become overly reliant on costly and unproven technologies like e-fuels or carbon capture and storage,” he said.
