There’s greater ambition but insufficient detail on how the government will address the Climate Change Committee’s key concerns.
Despite some successes, the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) 2024 net zero progress report warned the UK was “off track”.
Its assessment was released shortly after the general election, meaning it covered progress under the previous Conservative government.
Several months on from the election, the new Labour government has published its response.
The CCC called for the new government to be clear, consistent and “act fast”. Here are five infrastructure takeaways from its response:
1. Planning reforms are happening
The CCC emphasised that planning policy should be consistent with net zero.
The government has revised the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to better reflect climate change adaptation and mitigation.
This includes directing planning authorities to give significant weight to the benefits of renewable and low-carbon energy generation.
The government also quickly removed the de facto ban on onshore wind in England. And it’s pledged to boost applications by bringing onshore wind back into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime.
The rapid uptake of electric vehicles was one of the successes highlighted by the CCC.
The government is making it easier for homeowners and businesses to install charging points.
2. A new Public Participation Strategy is coming
The CCC called for an action plan for net zero skills and more public engagement on low-carbon choices – a key gap also highlighted by the ICE.
The government says its clean energy mission will give consumers more choice and control. It also wants to ensure the transition is “just and prosperous” for everyone.
But it wants to “tread lightly on people’s lives“. It will publish a Public Participation Strategy in 2025.
This will include:
- measures to support people to adopt new technologies – which the UK is behind on;
- opportunities for public views to inform policy-making; and
- engagement with local communities and more vulnerable groups – with disabled people a particular priority.
On skills, the Office for Clean Energy Jobs and Skills England have been established to help address workforce challenges in key energy and net zero sectors. Further plans are promised.
3. A step up in ambition to decarbonise electricity
Several of the CCC’s priority recommendations focused on the UK’s electricity supply.
The government has committed to decarbonise electricity by 2030 – five years earlier than the CCC recommended.
Its new Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out how it will generate and distribute enough clean electricity to meet the UK’s total demand.
Unabated gas will be used only when essential.
In addition:
- Labour will continue delivering the Transmission Acceleration Action Plan and the Connections Action Plan, which were published under the previous government.
- The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is developing a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Britain, to help more actively plan energy infrastructure.
- Reforms in the 2030 action plan include prioritising appropriate, viable projects, streamlining and targeting investment, faster consenting, and ensuring community benefits.
The response also highlights the success of the most recent Contracts for Difference round for new energy projects following the complete failure of the 2023 auction.
4. More consultations on homes and heating decarbonisation
The CCC highlighted the need to make electricity cheaper relative to gas.
The current price distortion is deterring households from taking up cleaner technologies, like heat pumps.
The government is “keen to explore” options to achieve this. It will launch a consultation on the best and fairest approach.
It won’t reinstate the new boiler phase-out to cover all homes, as the CCC called for.
Instead, it prefers incentives that make it in consumers’ interests to switch to cleaner heating.
Recent changes to permitted development rights will also allow more households to install air source heat pumps without a planning application.
The government has also increased funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Forecasts suggest 2024 sales figures will show marked growth on the 60,000 heat pumps sold in 2023.
A Warm Homes Plan will be published in 2025.
There will also be new consultations on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards for rented homes, private and social, by 2030.
5. Clarity still needed on climate adaptation plans
The CCC called climate adaptation a “pre-requisite” for achieving net zero. But the UK’s Third National Adaptation Plan (NAP3) has some major shortcomings.
The government “accepts” the CCC’s call for a reset to strengthen and accelerate climate adaptation.
However, it’s still considering options to achieve this and will set out its approach “in due course”.
Meanwhile the cross-government Climate Resilience Steering Board is being used to embed climate adaptation into policy- and decision-making.
The ICE’s view
The CCC progress report presented a worrying picture. Only a third of required emissions reductions by 2030 had credible plans.
There’s no time to lose and the new government has been quick to address some key challenges, like planning reform. It’s also set out an ambitious vision for the next five years in sectors like clean energy.
But there’s still an element of ‘wait and see’ in many areas that require urgent action.
In addition to the plans outlined above, spring will see:
- the new 10-year national infrastructure strategy
- an integrated transport strategy for England
- an industrial strategy; and
- the outcome of the multi-year spending review.
The government will also publish detailed plans next year for meeting the UK’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets and updates on delivering carbon budgets 4 to 6.
It says these will address the CCC’s concerns about the lack of alternative options should risks linked to existing plans materialise.
The UK’s seventh carbon budget, covering 2038-42, will also be published in February.
Failure to get the UK on track now will only make it harder to achieve later targets.
The CCC will publish its next emissions progress report in June.
By then, there should be a much clearer picture of whether the government’s plans are comprehensive, credible, and urgent enough.
Sustainable Development Goals:
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