Yahoo Finance Net zero: What is it and why does it matter? Rishi Sunak accused of backtracking on climate pledges
Rishi Sunak is reportedly facing letters of no confidence from Tory MPs in a row over watering down measures to combat climate change.
The government is said to be considering a delay on the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, currently due in 2030, by five years, and weakening the plan to phase out gas boilers from 2035.
The prime minister has been backed by home secretary Suella Braverman and former PM Liz Truss, but the delay comes after the UK was warned by its climate advisors that it risks failing on its decarbonisation targets.
In June, the Climate Change Committee’s “damning” report found that most policies are not on track towards meeting the 2030 targets that the government has set itself. The commission has outlined industry, transport, buildings and fuel supply are the sectors most in need of attention.
It has additionally said that it has less confidence in the Government’s ability to meet its 2030 targets since it published the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan – the result of a High Court action by Friends of the Earth (FoE), ClientEarth and the Good Law Project.
It is a frustration for the government, which is aiming to move forward with its Net Zero plan to reduce carbon. Ministers have said they want the UK to have the cheapest electricity in Europe by 2035, but admit the strategy is unlikely to bring down bills next year.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth is looking over the new revised net-zero strategy to see if it still fails to meet legal obligations to cut carbon emissions.
Ms Braverman, told Times Radio that the British taxpayer and household budgets came “first”, before action to tackle climate change. She insisted that the Government was committed to reaching the 2050 net zero target but added: “Ultimately, we have to adopt a pragmatic approach, a proportionate approach.
“We need to put the British taxpayer first, protect the interest of British workers, cars are heavily integral to everyone’s daily lives.”
Zac Goldsmith, who quit as environment minister in June with a scathing attack on Mr Sunak’s environmental “apathy”, accused the Prime Minister of a “moment of shame” and of “dismantling” the UK’s credibility on climate issues.
The former Richmond Park MP said: “His short stint as PM will be remembered as the moment the UK turned its back on the world and on future generations.”
What does net zero mean?
Net zero means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat and keep the planet warm.
But the more of these gases we have put into the atmosphere through activities such as burning fossil fuels to heat homes, driving cars and providing electricity for our lives, the more the planet warms.
These rising temperatures drive climate change, extreme weather, rising sea levels, heatwaves, and floods that we are already seeing increase around us.
So, just as you need to turn off a tap completely to stop the level of water in a bath from continuing to rise, we need to cut emissions to zero to reduce greenhouse gas levels, and therefore temperatures, to prevent more dangerous climate change.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 197 countries agreed to try to keep future global temperature rises “well below” 1.5C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
How can we achieve net zero?
Completely stopping emissions is extremely difficult. However, there are some measures, such as planting trees, which can absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is the equivalent of bailing some water out of the bath to keep the water level steady even if the tap is still running slightly.
Not all emissions can be reduced to zero, so those that remain have to be compensated by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This is known as “offsetting”.
To stabilise global temperature at any level, emissions must reach this “net-zero” point eventually.
Scientists say that to limit temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels — beyond which increasingly dangerous climate impacts will be felt — global carbon emissions must be brought down to net zero by around 2050. They say deep cuts to other greenhouse gases are also essential to achieve this.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that significant amounts of carbon dioxide removal will not only be needed for mopping up residual emissions, but also for creating negative levels of emissions to reduce temperatures after overshooting the 1.5C level.
In the UK, the Government legislated in June 2019 that the country must reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, by mandating a 100 per cent cut in emissions by that date.
That requires deep cuts in emissions and therefore changes in all sectors. These include how we heat our homes, travel, our power sector, how industry uses energy, our diets, and efforts to capture some emissions.
The statutory advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC) has said it expects more than 100 million tonnes of emissions will be captured in 2050 to offset the pollution the UK is still putting out then.
Ways to do that include burning plant matter for energy; capturing and burying the carbon emissions, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS); technology that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air; expanding woodlands; and restoring peatlands.
What are the challenges in achieving net zero?
Delivering net zero is not without controversy, with concerns raised about the cost.
But the CCC has concluded it would cost less than 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) through the next 30 years to deliver. It would also bring benefits such as cleaner air, better health and provide a job boost, though there is a need to ensure the costs are spread fairly.
It is also contentious because some environmentalists are concerned some companies and governments think they can continue to pollute while “offsetting” themselves out of the crisis, instead of tackling the emissions at source.
However, the CCC’s chief executive Chris Stark has said setting a net-zero target is the right approach, and the goal has galvanised action.
He said it was different from the UK’s old target of 80 per cent emissions cut by 2050. Mr Stark said this was because there was no longer a 20 per cent of residual pollution that organisations or sectors thought they could emit.
“I see real progress having set net zero as a goal, not just in government circles and in policy, but crucially in the commercial sector,” he said.
