The Committee is required, under the Climate Change Act, to make an annual assessment of progress reducing emissions. In order to inform this assessment in future years, we have developed a monitoring approach which enables us to track not just carbon emissions but also forward indicators of progress in investments, and policies which are required in early years to ensure that meeting subsequent budgets is feasible.

The indicators should not be seen as fixed targets, but rather as an evolving framework which will be developed in the light of new analysis (e.g. on cost and feasibility of options for reducing emissions). The indicators provide a basis for understanding whether emissions reductions are sustainable (i.e. through implementation of measures) and provide the opportunity for early identification of slippage that could increase the risk of missing budgets. The indicators were laid out in the Committee’s first annual report to Parliament with a first assessment of progress against indicators in the second annual report published in June 2010.

Indicator Tables:

Agriculture Indicators
 
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Buildings & Industry Indicators

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Power Indicators

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Road Transport Indicators

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Progress

Our indicator framework envisaged limited progress on implementation of measures in 2009, based on modest ambitions in policies that were firm and funded in 2008. This is generally what has followed, most notably with progress on loft and cavity wall insulation in line with our indicators. There has been outperformance against our indicator for new car efficiency, due largely to the impact of the recession and fossil fuel price increases in recent years, reinforced by policies (e.g. VED differentiation according to fuel efficiency).

Progress has been made developing approaches to drive the step change, but new policies are required in order to reduce emissions in power, buildings, transport and agriculture sectors:

•  Strengthening incentives for investment in low-carbon power generation including reform of the electricity market arrangements, underpinning the carbon price, and demonstrating coal and gas CCS generation
• Developing new delivery mechanisms and incentives to improve energy efficiency in buildings and industry, in the context of the new Government’s commitment to a National Energy Efficiency Programme supported by early legislation and a ‘Green Deal’ 
• Encouraging a move to more carbon-efficient cars including incentives to lock in to changed car purchase behaviour during the recession and ambitious targets and funding for electric car penetration in the period to 2020, building on progress in 2009 on Plugged In Places