Climate change: Government’s own advisers say it fails to make changes fast enough | Climate News

The government is failing to deliver on promises to dramatically cut UK greenhouse gas emissions, according to its own climate advisers.

They warn ministers must quickly step up their actions, with each month of delay making it harder to meet legal obligations to reach net zero by 2050.

In a series of bulletins on the government’s progress over the past year, the Climate Change Committee says that despite setting the right goals, there is still no detailed plan on how to achieve this. replace millions of boilers, encourage people to run on electricity and plant acres of trees.

Chris Stark, the committee’s chief executive, told Sky News there is a gulf between ambition and willingness to make tough decisions that affect people’s lives.

“It’s true that the country’s ambition has changed over the past 12 months and it’s helpful.

“But unless it is physically delivered, so the things that will take us to net zero, the changes that we will see in homes, industry and transportation, we cannot credibly say that we are on the right track.

“The government must change course.

The climate advisers make 200 recommendations to the government.

These include judging all of its policies against a “net-zero” test to ensure they are compatible with climate goals, and amending the planning bill to ensure that new homes are low carbon and adapted to rising global temperatures.

Advisers also say the government cannot shy away from encouraging people to steal less and eat less meat.

The committee said meeting the UK’s long-term legally binding target of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050 would cost less than 1% of GDP per year and could generate a 2% increase in by 2035 as the UK recovers from the pandemic.

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