Britain must urgently address greenhouse gas emissions from transport, heating, industry and agriculture if it is to meet its next legally binding climate target, according to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) 2024 Progress Report to Parliament. The UK has more than halved its emissions since 1990 – the first country to do so – but the majority of those reductions came from removing coal from the electricity sector. Under the Paris Agreement, the country has committed to reducing emissions by 68% by 2030. The CCC, a statutory body tasked with advising and monitoring the government on climate policy, said to meet these targets the UK would need to double the rate of reductions in transport, and triple efforts in buildings. Offshore wind installations must also triple, while onshore wind must double and solar installation must increase fivefold, the report said. By 2030, 10% of homes will need to be heated by electric heat pumps rather than gas boilers, up from 1% today; and electric vehicles (EVs) would need to make up nearly 100% of new car sales, up from 16.5% today. The CCC criticised the previous Conservative government – which lost a general election to Labour earlier this month – for rolling back a number of climate policies. “The new government has an opportunity to course-correct, but it will need to be done as a matter of urgency to make up for lost time,” said Professor Piers Forster, interim Chair of the CCC. “They are off to a good start. Action needs to extend beyond electricity, with rapid progress needed on electric cars, heat pumps and tree planting.” The CCC set out 10 priorities for the new Labour government this year: make electricity cheaper; reverse the previous government’s policy rollbacks; remove planning barriers for onshore wind, heat pumps and EV charging infrastructure; introduce a comprehensive programme for decarbonising buildings; accelerate decarbonisation of industrial heat; ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration; finalise policy for engineered carbon removals; develop a skills replacement policy; and strengthen national adaptation plans.
