Committee on Climate Change

UK plans to adapt to climate crisis ‘fall far short’ of what is required

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/13/uk-climate-crisis-plans-fall-far-short-of-what-is-required-ccc-says

A car gets submerged in flood waters in a pub car park in Sonning on Thames, Berkshire, UK. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/REX/Shutterstock

Government has no credible plan for effects of extreme weather, says Committee on Climate Change

The UK’s plans for adapting to the effects of the climate crisis “fall far short” of what is required, the government’s statutory adviser has said.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has examined the national adaptation programme published by ministers last July, intended to set out how people, buildings and vital national infrastructure such as water, transport, energy and telecommunications networks could be protected from the increasing severity of storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts that are afflicting the UK as a result of global heating.

In a damning verdict delivered on Wednesday, the committee found that the government had no credible plan for making the UK resilient to the increasing effects of extreme weather.

Julia King, chair of the adaptation subcommittee of the CCC, said: “The evidence of the damage from climate change has never been clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptation is not working.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/13/uk-climate-crisis-plans-fall-far-short-of-what-is-required-ccc-says

Continue ReadingUK plans to adapt to climate crisis ‘fall far short’ of what is required

UK has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say government’s own advisers

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/28/uk-has-made-no-progress-on-climate-plan-say-governments-own-advisers

Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

UK has lost leadership in climate action and almost all targets are being missed, Committee on Climate Change finds

The government’s plans to hit net zero have been comprehensively criticised in a withering report by its own advisers that warns targets are being missed on nearly every front.

Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before, despite soaring energy bills and a cost of living crisis. There is little progress on transport emissions, no coherent programme for behaviour change, and still no decision on hydrogen for home heating.

Meanwhile the installation of new wind and solar farms and the upgrading of the electricity grid are still too slow to meet net zero, according to the Committee on Climate Change, which says that the lack of urgency of government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled.

Lord Deben, outgoing chair of the CCC, said the UK had “lost the leadership” on climate action shown at Cop26 in 2021 and done “a number of things” – such as greenlighting a new coal mine and new oil and gasfields in the North Sea – that were “utterly unacceptable”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/28/uk-has-made-no-progress-on-climate-plan-say-governments-own-advisers

Continue ReadingUK has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say government’s own advisers

Time is short for Tories and Labour to show leadership on the climate crisis

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/time-is-short-for-tories-and-labour-to-show-leadership-on-the-climate-crisis

Neither party is showing much appetite for the hard policy decisions that are necessary to cut CO2 emissions – and time is running out

Extinction Rebellion protest, banner reads NO MORE PLANET WRECKING FOSSIL FUELS DEMAND RENEWABLE ENERGY
The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has accused the government of dithering about expanding onshore wind.

The Conservatives are lagging far behind on the climate crisis, that much we know. But the Labour party is not showing the leadership that the country needs on reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned.

Lord Deben, a former Conservative environment secretary, has long been a critic of the government, and recently praised Labour’s stance on opposing new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

But as he presented his final annual progress report as chairman, he warned that Labour was failing to take on vested interests.

“If you lead, then there are bound to be people who would prefer you not to have made those decisions,” Deben said. “And what we are seeing at the moment is not only in government but in opposition, people being unwilling to lead lest some people don’t like the decisions that are being made. But these decisions have to be made, and there will be some people who disagree with them, and it is no good hoping that it will all go away.”

He added: “Right across the political spectrum, there is an unwillingness to lead.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/time-is-short-for-tories-and-labour-to-show-leadership-on-the-climate-crisis

Continue ReadingTime is short for Tories and Labour to show leadership on the climate crisis

Halt new roads and developments adding to emissions, advisers to tell UK government

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/23/halt-new-roads-and-developments-adding-to-emissions-advisers-to-tell-uk-government

The government should halt all new roads unless there are exceptional circumstances, the government’s climate advisers are likely to say next week.

On Wednesday the Committee on Climate Change will publish its latest report on the UK’s progress in dealing with the climate crisis. Speaking at Glastonbury on Friday, the climate change committee chair, Lord Deben, said new roads inevitably increased traffic and emissions.

The report is likely to advise that any new developments that make climate breakdown worse should be banned.

If the recommendation is followed through, it would sound the death knell for the government’s road-building programme – and had it been adopted earlier, it would have meant the high-speed HS2 rail line would never have been approved. 

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/23/halt-new-roads-and-developments-adding-to-emissions-advisers-to-tell-uk-government

Continue ReadingHalt new roads and developments adding to emissions, advisers to tell UK government