The Committee on Climate Change has called upon the Government to take urgent action in a bid to avoid increasing costs and impacts of climate change in the UK.
The CCC said that the new parliament should take actions to ensure that UK’s emissions reductions are on track and the country adapts to climate change. This will involve working on many policies on emission reduction including low-carbon electricity and heat, measures to encourage low-emission vehicle use and energy efficiency that are able to expire over the course of the current Parliament.
The committee urged that if the parliament doesn’t look into these and let uncertainty take hold, there could be stop-start investments that will eventually lead to higher costs and risks failing to meet legal obligations to reduce emissions.
“This Government has a unique opportunity to shape climate policy through the 2020s. It must act now to set out how it plans to keep the UK on track”, said Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change. “Acting early will help to reduce costs to households, business and the Exchequer. It will improve people’s health and wellbeing and create opportunities for business in manufacturing and in the service sector.”
Some of the recommendations put forward by the Committee include:
- extending the funding for low-carbon electricity generation to 2025 so as to support investment and innovation;
- finalisation of an action plan that delivers low-carbon heat and energy efficiency to allow homes to be heated for less while addressing the risks from rising temperatures and flooding;
- continued support for efficient, low-emission vehicles to save drivers money;
- development of new infrastructure that helps to combat climate change and is resilient to its impacts; and
- act to preserve the fertility and organic content of soils and counter the decline in productive farmland.
