Contents
This statutory report provides a comprehensive overview of the UK Government’s progress to date in reducing emissions. It is accompanied by a new Monitoring Framework which details the CCC’s updated approach to tracking real-world progress through a host of new indicators.
This is a pivotal point in the UK’s journey to Net Zero. The UK is one of the few countries with emissions targets in line with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Policy ambition has moved substantially with the publication of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy. Now is the time to deliver the promised action.
2. Download the report
3. Key messages
- The UK Government now has a solid Net Zero strategy in place, but important policy gaps remain.
- Tangible progress is lagging the policy ambition. With an emissions path set for the UK and the Net Zero Strategy published, greater emphasis and focus must be placed on delivery.
- Successful delivery of changes on the ground requires active management of delivery risks. Not all policies will deliver as planned. Some may be more successful than expected, while others will fall behind.
- Action to address the rising cost of living should be aligned with Net Zero. There remains an urgent need for equivalent action to reduce demand for fossil fuels to reduce emissions and limit energy bills.
- Slow progress on wider enablers. The Net Zero Strategy contained warm words on many of the cross-cutting enablers of the transition, but there has been little concrete progress.
- The UK must build on a successful COP26. The UK presidency of the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last November successfully strengthened long-term global ambition and introduced new mechanisms to support delivery. It should prioritise making those new mechanisms work in practice and strengthening global 2030 ambition, while preparing for a focus on climate finance and adaptation at COP27 in 2022 and COP28 in 2023.
Emissions rose 4% in 2021 compared with 2020 as the economy began to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Recommendations to Government
Table 1.11
Recommendations for the GovernmentPriority | Sector | Topic | Primary responsibility | Supporting actors | Recommendation | Timing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agriculture and land use | CAP reform | Wales | Provide detail on how post-CAP agricultural subsidies and schemes in Wales will target incentives and delivery for climate mitigation alongside wider environmental goals such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | CAP reform | Scotland | Provide detail on how post-CAP agricultural subsidies and schemes in Scotland will target incentives and delivery for climate mitigation alongside wider environmental goals such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | CAP reform | N Ireland | Provide detail on how post-CAP agricultural subsidies and schemes in Northern Ireland will target incentives and delivery for climate mitigation alongside wider environmental goals such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | DLUHC | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risks for which DLUHC has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to human health, wellbeing and productivity from increased exposure to heat in homes and buildings (with DHSC). | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Low-carbon farming | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | As part of strengthening the regulatory baseline, extend coverage of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones across all of the UK in order to promote best practice in management of inorganic fertilisers and organic manure and slurry. | 2024 | |
Agriculture and land use | Low-carbon farming | Defra | As part of strengthening the regulatory baseline, introduce regulations under the Clean Air Strategy to reduce enteric methane emissions, specifically under environmental permitting to the dairy and intensive beef sectors and mandating UK feed producers to incorporate methane inhibiting additives. | 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Low-carbon farming | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Continue to support research and development into low-carbon farming practices, including behavioural, innovation and productivity measures. The risk of a high dependency on innovation and technology to meet GHG emission reductions should be assessed, and integrated with demand-side measures such as diet change and waste reduction. | 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Trade and consumption emissions | Defra | COP Unit; FCDO; DIT | Develop the option of applying minimum environmental standards to imports of selected agricultural products, either for application via due diligence or at the border. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Non-financial barriers | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Develop understanding on how the transition to Net Zero in the agriculture and land will affect employment in these sectors, including a timeframe of change and the scale of impact. Set out how the change will be managed to be fair and equitable, ensuring new skills and training are widely available to both support communities, but also to facilitate the meeting of targets in these sectors. | 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Governance | Defra | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Ensure incentives are set at the correct level to set a trajectory to achieve 58% of peatland restored by 2035, and 79% under restoration by 2050. All upland peat should be under restoration management by 2045. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Agriculture and land use | Trees and woodland | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Ensure that funding and incentives are set at the correct level to meet the UK Government afforestation target of 30,000 hectares per year by 2025, and illustrative Net Zero Strategy targets of 40,000 hectares and 50,000 hectares by 2030 and 2035 respectively. Further clarity is required regarding funding beyond 2025. This should also address wider objectives for land such as climate adaptation and nature conservation. | 2023 |
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Implement a comprehensive delivery mechanism to address degraded peatland and extend current restoration ambition set out by the UK government and the devolved administrations beyond existing timeframes. Peat restoration targets include the need to remove all low-productive trees (i.e. less than YC10) from peatland (equivalent to 16,000 hectares by 2025), and restore all peat extraction sites by 2035 (equivalent to 50,000 hectares by 2025). | 2024 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Trade and consumption emissions | Defra | COP Unit; FCDO; DIT; BEIS | Implement Government's proposed policy on due diligence of forest-risk commodities and develop a further policy to remove unsustainable legal deforestation from UK supply chains that avoids the risk of resource shuffling. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Trade and consumption emissions | Defra | ONS | Improve data collection and standardise methodologies for monitoring of, and reporting on, international land use emissions that arise from UK consumption, particularly from deforestation. The Government should aim to report on these international emissions from deforestation on an annual basis from 2023. This may build on the experimental statistic of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Make long-term targets for biodiversity, set out under the Environment Bill, and associated timeframes outcome-based and linked directly to the goals set out in the Government’s 25-Year Environment Plan. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Make interim targets for biodiversity statutory and link them clearly to the long-term targets set out in the Environment Bill. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | The commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to achieve 75% restoration for terrestrial and freshwater protected sites should be extended to include all priority habitat sites. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Set out a clear mechanism to account for the consequences of higher water temperatures and low flows (including drying up) in water bodies for freshwater habitats and species, and for meeting the Water Framework Directive (WFD) targets. This is lacking in current plans to revise the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs). | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Marine and coastal | Defra | Extend the statutory requirements of marine plan policies to the decisions of public and private organisations. At present only public authorities are duty bound under law to apply the plan policies to their decisions meaning there is a significant gap in the protections they are designed to provide. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Introduce baseline regulations to ensure lowland peat soils are not left bare by mandating the use of appropriate vegetation cover. | 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Introduce policy to end rotational burning on peatland before the start of the 2022 burn season. | 2022 | |
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Wales | Introduce the proposed regulations to ban the retail sale of peat in horticulture in England and Wales by 2024. Use by the horticultural sector should also end in 2024, earlier than the currently proposed 2028. Government must work with the horticultural industry achieve this. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Low-carbon farming | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Move beyond the voluntary nature of current CAP replacement schemes by setting a strong regulatory baseline that strengthens rules such as those under cross compliance and retains them in UK legislation. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Non-financial barriers | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Provide support to tenant farmers to overcome contractual issues that restrict the long-term commitment and investment required to reduce emissions and sequester carbon on the land they manage. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risks for which Defra has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to soil health from increased flooding and drought. | 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risks for which Defra has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to natural carbon stores and sequestration (trees, soils and wetlands) from multiple hazards. | 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Adaptation | Defra | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risks for which Defra has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to crops, livestock, and commercial trees from multiple hazards. | 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Diet and demand | Defra | Set out how the objective in the Government Food Strategy to ‘deliver a sustainable, nature positive, affordable food system’ will be achieved, including the mechanisms to address the interaction between food systems and other land use needs, climate, nature, and integrated alongside a public shift towards low-carbon diets. | Q1 2023 | ||
Agriculture and land use | CAP reform | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Put in place robust frameworks for monitoring, reporting and verification of post-CAP farm subsidies and agriculture environment schemes to assess their effectiveness in delivering their environmental objectives, including for climate change mitigation and adaptation. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Low-carbon farming | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set in place action to overcome financial barriers that prevent take-up and innovation in low-carbon farming practices. This should include management incentives under the ELM scheme and approaches set by devolved administrations, grants for capital items and infrastructure, and support for research and development. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Non-financial barriers | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set in place action to overcome non-financial barriers that prevent adoption of low-carbon farming measures and land-use change to deliver emission reduction and carbon benefits. These include streamlining application processes and providing support for skills, training, and knowledge exchange in order to provide confidence to farmers to take up new measures. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Agroforestry and hedgerows | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set incentives to support agroforestry and hedgerows on UK farms. Plant trees on 2% of farmland by 2025 while maintaining its primary use, rising to 5% by 2035, and extend hedgerows by 20% by 2035 and better manage existing hedgerows. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Agriculture and land use | Agriculture and land use strategy | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set out a Net Zero delivery strategy for the agriculture and land use sectors that brings together how land can deliver its multiple functions including: reducing emissions and sequestering carbon, adapting to climate change, food security, biodiversity, domestic biomass production and wider environmental goals. The strategy must clearly outline the relationships and interactions between the multiple action plans in development (e.g. including those for peat, trees, nature, plant biosecurity and biomass), be spatially and temporally targeted, and aligned with action in the devolved administrations. | Q1 2023 |
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set out clear timeframes to end domestic and industrial peat extraction across the UK. Provide a mechanism to ensure the peat extraction industries restore extraction sites to protect the peat resource. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Finance | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Set out how public and private funding for agricultural and land-based measures will be aligned, how opportunities to attract increased private finance for habitat creation and restoration will be developed, and promote the use of existing verifiable standards (such as the Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code) whilst also considering the need to develop new ones. | 2022 | |
Agriculture and land use | CAP reform | Defra | Set out how reform of agricultural subsidies in England under the new Environmental Land Management scheme will be targeted through the "public money for public goods" approach, both regionally and temporally, to incentivise land managers to adopt measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions alongside delivery for food security, biodiversity and other environmental goals. | 2022 | ||
Agriculture and land use | Diet and demand | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Take low-cost, low-regret actions to encourage a 20% shift away from all meat by 2030, rising to 35% by 2050, and a 20% shift from dairy products by 2030, demonstrating leadership in the public sector whilst improving health. | 2022 | |
Agriculture and land use | Diet and demand | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Introduce policy to support the reduction of food waste at the farm, supply chain and household level. Food waste reduction, and its implications, should also be integrated into the recommended Net Zero delivery strategy for the agriculture and land use sectors , as well as in plans for the waste sector. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Peatlands | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Where peat soils remain under agricultural use, set out how they will be managed in a more sustainable way. This should include raising water levels on 8% of lowland grassland by 2025, reaching 25% by 2035, and 12% of arable crops by 2025, reaching 38% by 2035. | Q1 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Trees and woodland | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Work with the forestry sector and government agencies to support UK tree nurseries to increase domestic production of trees to meet the planting ambition and reduce reliance on imports, along with the associated risks of pests and disease. | 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use | Coastal and marine | BEIS | Defra | Produce a roadmap to inclusion of saltmarsh and seagrass in the greenhouse gas inventory, which specifies a suggested level of inclusion (i.e., Tier 1, 2 or 3), the additional data required to facilitate this, and an indicative timescale to inclusion. | 2023 | |
Agriculture and land use; Fuel supply | Biomass | Defra | BEIS | The Biomass Strategy should set out the role that sustainable domestic production of perennial energy crops and short rotation coppice will play to contribute towards Net Zero. The strategy should align with the recommended development of a Government agriculture and land use strategy and outline how land for UK biomass and forestry will be freed up. This should include specific targets to increase the area growing energy crops across the UK to 6,000 hectares per year by 2025, and 30,000 hectares per year by 2035. | 2022 | |
Agriculture and land use; Manufacturing and construction | Trees and woodland | Defra | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Develop a comprehensive plan to increase the production and use of UK sourced timber and support the long-term economic viability of domestic woodlands. | Q1 2023 | |
Aviation | Demand | Scotland | Seek to address price imbalances between aviation and surface transport, once aviation taxation is devolved to Scotland, encouraging the low-carbon alternative (e.g. rail) for journeys where one exists. | 2023 | ||
Aviation | Demand | N Ireland | Long-haul air passenger duty, which is devolved to Northern Ireland, should be increased at least in line with UK-wide long-distance air passenger duty, to better reflect the climate change impact of flying. | 2022 | ||
Aviation | Demand | HMT | DfT | Demand mitigation measures should be used to address price imbalances between aviation and low-emission forms of surface transport (e.g. rail travel). Taxes should send clearer signals to consumers on the high emissions cost of flying (e.g. by reversing the 2021 cut in Air Passenger Duty). Fair funding mechanisms should be used to ensure alternatives are affordable (e.g. invest in low-emission alternatives for journeys where domestic flights are faster/cheaper than surface transport). | 2023 | |
Aviation | Demand | HMT | DfT | Fiscal policy should be used (e.g. taxation, quotas or a frequent flyer levy), alongside improvements in broadband, to embed positive behaviours that have arisen during the pandemic, replacing business travel with videoconferencing and online collaboration. The price of flying should be raised to the point that it acts as an effective signal to consumers that aviation has high emissions costs. | 2022 | |
Aviation | Demand | DfT | DLUHC | Assess the Government’s airport capacity strategy in the context of Net Zero, as part of the aviation strategy. There should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the carbon-intensity of aviation is in line with or ahead of the Government's pathway and can accommodate the additional demand. A demand management framework will need to be developed by 2023 and be in place by the mid-2020s to annually assess and, if required, control sector GHG emissions and non-CO2 effects. | 2023 | |
Aviation | Offsets/removals | DfT | Commit to a policy on the UK ETS/Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) interaction as soon as possible, ensuring it is sufficiently environmentally stringent and that no credits from CORSIA are used for flights currently covered by the UK ETS unless and until they can satisfy strict eligibility criteria (equivalence, additionality, permanence, sustainability). The interaction should avoid double-compliance. | 2023 | ||
Aviation | Demand | DfT | Commit to monitor seat occupancy in the next few years (3-4) during recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the sector either returns to prior occupancy levels or routes are adjusted to account for low occupancy rates. Consider regulating aircraft occupancy standards if the trends do not return to pre-pandemic levels in the next 12 months. | Q1 2023 | ||
Aviation | Low emission aircraft | DfT | Continue innovation and funding for aircraft efficiency measures, hybrid, full electric and hydrogen aircraft development and airspace modernisation. | Ongoing | ||
Aviation | Sustainable aviation fuel | DfT | Continue innovation and show support for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technologies, including research into the non-CO2 effects. Also, estimate the impact of different sustainable aviation fuel options on other countries' emissions and the opportunity costs for UK land use. | 2022 | ||
Yes | Aviation | Sustainable aviation fuel | DfT | Implement the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate as soon as possible this year with a strong set of criteria for the fuels included in the mandate. | 2022 | |
Aviation | Cross-cutting | DfT | Publish the full Jet Zero Strategy as soon as possible in Q3 2022 to provide a clear strategy for the sector to decarbonise and to provide certainty to airlines, airports, and supporting industries. | Q3 2022 | ||
Aviation | Non-CO2 emissions | DfT | Start monitoring non-CO2 effects of aviation (including through the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) for eligible aeroplane operators), set a minimum goal of no further warming after 2050 from non-CO2 effects, research mitigation options, and consider how best to tackle non-CO2 effects alongside UK climate targets without increasing CO2 emissions. | 2023 | ||
Aviation | International engagement | DfT | Use the ICAO General Assembly to protect, strengthen and extend Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) such that all residual emissions in 2050 are covered by near-permanent, sustainable greenhouse gas removals. Commit to increasing the number of airlines opting in and, if strengthening it is not possible, push for an additional policy for countries willing and able to commit to a higher standard of carbon removal for aviation than exists through CORSIA. | Q3 2022 | ||
Aviation | Sustainable aviation fuel | DfT | Without allowing it to delay the implementation of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate this year, consider the following criteria for the fuels permitted to be used in the mandate: i) Ensure that all fuels do not have a harmful non-CO2 impact relative to regular jet fuel, ii) that the life-cycle emissions savings from the fuels are significant relative to jet fuel. | Q4 2022 | ||
Aviation | Sustainable aviation fuel | DfT | Without allowing it to delay the implementation of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate this year, consider whether including high-quality greenhouse gas removals into the SAF mandate could be a more effective way of reducing emissions for the industry, particularly in the short-term, i.e. 5-8 years up to 2030, before the most efficient forms of SAF (e.g. synthetic fuels) are widely commercially available. | 2023 | ||
Aviation; Shipping; F-Gas | Carbon budgets | BEIS | Complete legislative changes for inclusion in the Carbon Budgets of NF3 from the Fourth Carbon Budget onwards and international aviation and shipping from the Sixth Carbon Budget onwards. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Buildings | Public engagement | BEIS | DLUHC | Create a public energy advice service to provide households with guidance on decarbonising and adapting their homes to climate change by this summer, as committed in the Energy Security Strategy. This should include an online platform including high-level trusted information and advice (including on Government schemes), a link to local providers who can undertake assessments of home energy performance, and bespoke support for households wishing to undertake more complex retrofits. | H2 2022 |
Buildings | Public engagement | BEIS | DLUHC | Support the launch of the energy advice service with a widespread publicity campaign, to ensure awareness of the service reaches millions of households across the UK each year, including those who may not yet have thought about retrofitting their homes. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Public engagement | BEIS | HMT | Use the planned energy advice service and accompanying awareness campaign to drive demand for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Increase available funding as required so that everyone who wants a heat pump through the scheme can get one, as set out as an intention in the Energy Security Strategy. | Ongoing | |
Buildings | Public engagement | BEIS | DLUHC | Monitor and publish data on the reach and effectiveness of the proposed energy advice service, ensuring the information offer to households on required changes to their homes is continuously improved in line with these findings, and results in genuine carbon savings. | Ongoing | |
Buildings | Workers and skills | BEIS | DfE; DWP; DLUHC; Home Office | Clearly set out how plans to grow and upskill the workforce will support the Government’s pathways for low-carbon heat and energy efficiency and fill the skills gap identified in the Heat and Buildings Strategy. | 2022 | |
Yes | Buildings | Low-carbon heat | BEIS | HMT | Launch the delayed Fairness and Affordability Call for Evidence and follow on by implementing plans for energy price reform which remove market distortions (i.e. that historical policy costs are primarily placed on electricity prices) and consider the role of carbon pricing. Plans should ensure that heat pumps will be cheaper to run than gas boilers. | H2 2022 |
Yes | Buildings | Low-carbon heat | BEIS | Publish a final policy plan for the market-based approach to low-carbon heat. This must include a clear explanation of how the obligation on manufacturers or energy suppliers will work, whether enabling legislation is required, and a timeline for implementation. It should also include details on how the Government will track whether the policy is driving the required market growth, and identify trigger points for further intervention (e.g. funding, regulation) if progress falls behind. | H2 2022 | |
Buildings | Low-carbon heat | BEIS | Publish a response to the consultation on phasing out the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid, alongside the follow-up technical consultation, to ensure any required changes in legislation can be implemented ahead of 2026. | Q1 2023 | ||
Buildings | Low-carbon heat | BEIS | Finalise and publish plans to phase out boiler replacements in off-grid non-residential buildings from 2024, and consult on introducing an earlier phase-out date for gas boilers in non-residential buildings. | H2 2022 | ||
Yes | Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Develop and publish new policies (with a clear implementation timeline) to ensure that owner-occupied homes reach a minimum energy performance of EPC C by 2035, through incentives or regulation. This should be stronger than the current proposed voluntary minimum requirement for mortgage lenders to improve the efficiency of the homes they lend to, and could include a policy requiring EPC C from 2028 at the point of sale and/or a mandatory minimum requirement for mortgage lenders. | H1 2023 | |
Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Legislate to require privately rented homes in England and Wales to reach EPC C by 2030 (as was promised in autumn 2021). | H2 2022 | ||
Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Set a long-term regulatory standard for social homes to reach EPC C by 2028 and finalise policy plans and a delivery mechanism. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Publish proposals for a minimum EPC in owner-occupied commercial buildings. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Implement the performance-based rating scheme to offices and publish timelines for other building types, outlining how timelines correspond to the expected emissions reduction trajectory of commercial buildings in the 2020s. | H2 2022 | ||
Buildings | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Publish findings on SME energy efficiency from the new research mentioned in the Heat and Buildings Strategy, and outline plans to ensure SMEs are able to invest in retrofit and energy efficiency measures. | H2 2022 | ||
Buildings | Fuel poor homes | BEIS | HMT | In the context of record high energy prices, recognising that action on energy efficiency can help both meet climate targets and bring down energy bills, increase ambition and public funding commitments for decarbonisation in fuel poor homes. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Heat networks | BEIS | Implement legislation for heat network zoning in England and Wales this parliamentary session and provide Ofgem with powers to regulate heat networks. | H1 2023 | ||
Buildings | Fuel poor homes | BEIS | DWP; HMRC | Publish plans to improve the targeting of support for fuel poor households to retrofit their homes, including through clear steps and timelines to facilitate data sharing between Government departments. | 2023 | |
Buildings | Heat networks | BEIS | Publish targets for low-carbon heat networks which explicitly set out their contribution to decarbonising heat, outline plans for converting existing heat networks to low-carbon, and ensure that new heat networks are low-carbon from the start. | H1 2023 | ||
Buildings | Progress monitoring and data | BEIS | Publish a monitoring framework for tracking delivery of the Heat and Buildings Strategy, setting out how key indicators of progress will be tracked and published. Indicators should include forward tracking of supply chain build up in key areas, like heat pumps, heat networks and energy efficiency. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | New buildings | DLUHC | BEIS | To ensure that the Future Homes Standard will be fully implemented by 2025 and delivers homes with ultra-high energy efficiency standards, low-carbon heating and resilient to climate change impacts, consult on a full technical specification for the new standard in 2023 in order to allow legislation in 2024. Define clear transitional arrangements which will require any buildings which have not meaningfully commenced on site within a year of the implementation date to meet the new standards. | 2023 | |
Buildings | New buildings | DLUHC | BEIS | Ensure that the Future Homes Standard requires low-carbon heating, and mitigation of overheating, in homes which are created through a material change of use to an existing building. | 2023 | |
Buildings | New buildings | DLUHC | BEIS | Consult on a full technical specification for the Future Buildings Standard in 2023. Ensure that the new standards are implemented by 2025, and will deliver new buildings which are resilient to climate change impacts, with ultra-high energy efficiency standards and low-carbon heating. | 2023 | |
Buildings | Building standards and enforcement | DLUHC | BEIS; Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Implement improvements to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) framework to ensure they drive deployment of the necessary energy efficiency and low-carbon heat measures and also address overheating, ventilation, and moisture-risk. This should be done in coordination with Devolved Administrations. | H1 2023 | |
Buildings | Building standards and enforcement | DLUHC | BEIS; HMT | Publish plans to address enforcement issues for building standards and minimum EPC requirements, including consideration of additional measures to monitor compliance of qualified installers, approved inspectors and EPC assessors, and providing local areas with sufficient resource to undertake assessments. | H1 2023 | |
Buildings | Building standards and enforcement | DLUHC | BEIS | Publish clear plans to move towards in-use performance metrics for buildings, with clear timescales and responsibilities. Consider the case for moving towards Green Buildings Passports. | 2023 | |
Yes | Buildings | Public buildings | HMT | BEIS | Increase the multi-year funding commitments for decarbonisation in public buildings up until 2025 to match the Government's ambition for public sector decarbonisation and commit to continuing similar levels of funding beyond 2025. | H1 2023 |
Buildings | Funding | HMT | BEIS | Recognising that the transition needs to scale up over this decade and that stable funding provides certainty to households, businesses, and public bodies, strongly and credibly signal that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, Home Upgrade Grant, Local Authority Delivery Scheme, Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Energy Company Obligation and public sector decarbonisation will continue to be fully funded as required beyond the spending review period. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Finance | HMT | BEIS | Outline a comprehensive vision to leverage private financing for the retrofit of UK homes and businesses. Plans should be designed to operate in tandem with the other enablers needed to unlock home retrofit at scale, such as better buildings data and public engagement. Financial levers to consider include green stamp duty, green mortgages, energy as a service, property-linked finance, and using the UKIB to de-risk retail investment into home retrofit. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Public buildings | CO and Number 10 | BEIS; Defra | To meet ambitious Government targets and show leadership in public sector buildings decarbonisation ensure public sector organisations, including those not captured by the Greening Government Commitments, have the information and support they need to: monitor their energy use, set targets and reduce emissions from their estate over the next five years. Establish proportionate mechanisms which could be put in place to review overall progress and recurring challenges. | 2023 | |
Buildings | Progress monitoring and data | Scotland | Publish more detail on the modelled pathway for low-carbon heat, and planned breakdown of funding announced in the Scotland Heat in Buildings Strategy. | H2 2022 | ||
Buildings | Low-carbon heat | Wales | Building on the plans set out in Net Zero Wales Carbon Budget 2, publish a long-term strategy, setting out a pathway up until 2050 for decarbonising buildings with key policy milestones and targets for low-carbon heating and energy efficiency roll-out. This should include policies to support low-carbon heating across all of the building stock, including how Wales will transition away from fossil fuel heating and ensure local actors are able to conduct spatial planning for heat networks | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Fuel poor homes | Wales | Drawing on the recommendations of the Auditor General for Wales, publish plans for future iterations of the Warm Homes Programme to tackle fuel poverty and decarbonise homes, addressing the scheme's reliance on fossil fuel heating and slow roll-out | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Strategy | N Ireland | Publish the Decarbonising Heat Consultation and follow on with a coherent, long-term strategy for heat and energy efficiency in Northern Ireland’s homes and other buildings; encompassing regulatory, policy and funding commitments to facilitate delivery. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | BEIS | Expand overheating requirement in building regulations to cover refurbishments of existing buildings and conversions of non-residential buildings to residential. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | BEIS | Close loopholes allowing homes to be built which do not meet the current minimum standards for new dwellings. This includes provisions around the expiry of planning permission and permitted development rights relating to change of use. Make accurate performance testing and reporting widespread, committing developers to the standards they advertise | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | Ensure that all types of current and future flood risk are included in policies to assess flood risk to new developments. Housing targets for local authorities should take account of flood risk, amongst other environmental issues. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | End the automatic right to connect to the public sewer; planning reforms should enact Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act (2010); and technical SuDS standards should be made mandatory and be updated to deliver SuDS that provide multiple economic, social and environmental benefits. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | The consultation process for surface water flood risk must be improved. This should be done by adding statutory consultees for all development type and sizes. Consultees must have the appropriate skills to provide advice on surface water flood mitigation. Ensure that Local Authorities fully justify planning decisions where applications can proceed either without or going against formal flood risk mitigation advice. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | Assessments and management of flood risk in new developments must as a minimum include evidence that the development will be safe over its full lifetime and consider downstream interactions and impacts of new developments. Assessments must as a minimum: consider 2°C and 4°C climate scenarios, the risk of flooding to local infrastructure and include a consideration of better preparedness as set out in the Government’s recent FCERM Policy Statement. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | HMT | Ensure there are properly funded and trained staff in local authorities to assess flood risk. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | DHSC | DHSC should publish an assessment of the specific vulnerability of publicly-owned hospitals and other health and care facilities to the effects of climate change, in particular overheating and flooding. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DHSC | Assess health sector vulnerability to existing and future climate risks, particularly for care homes and home-based care. Following this, develop a cross-sector approach to address risks. This cross-sector approach should include input from DHSC, CQC, PHE, NHS, MHCLG and local level public health bodies. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | DfE | DfE should publish an assessment of the specific vulnerability of publicly-owned schools and other educational facilities to the effects of climate change, in particular overheating and flooding. | 2023 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | Defra | Work with the Environment Agency to set out the measures being taken to improve the uptake of property-level flood resilience (PFR) following stakeholder responses to its PFR call for evidence and consultation. This should include improved data collection to monitor progress. Plans for the new national flood risk assessment and 2025 long-term investment scenarios must ensure that the evidence they provide can be used to identify the most effective locations for PFR, and smart targets for their installation with timescales. | 2022 | ||
Buildings | Adaptation | BEIS | DLUHC | Conduct further research to understand when overheating occurs in existing homes, including ongoing monitoring of temperatures in the housing stock, monitoring of overheating exceedances in homes, and the number of homes currently adapted. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | BEIS | DLUHC | Develop and publish new guidance and information for homeowners with the steps that can be taken if their homes overheat. This should include an outline of behavioural options and the measures that can be installed to reduce internal temperatures. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | BEIS | DLUHC | Encourage retrofit of passive cooling measures. Consider how policies can ensure that when energy efficiency retrofit is carried out, overheating is considered and mitigated against if necessary. | Ongoing | |
Buildings | Adaptation | BEIS | HMT | Make finance available to install adaptation measures. This could be via grant schemes or green finance for private owners, with public funding targeted at low-income or vulnerable households alongside energy efficiency retrofit. | 2022 | |
Buildings | Adaptation | DLUHC | To help improve the information on Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and surface water flood risk, urgently begin collecting data on sewer capacity and SuDS location, type and capacity. This would bring the level of information in line with that for river and coastal flood risk defences. | 2022 | ||
Buildings; Surface transport | Government estate | DLUHC | Develop and implement plans to make all public sector buildings and vehicle fleets within the department’s remit zero carbon in the long-term, switching to ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030 and halving emissions from public buildings by 2032. | Q2 2023 | ||
Buildings; Surface transport | Government estate | DWP | Publish the completed carbon and water management plan and the sustainability management plan that is under development. The plan should include clear pathways for reaching Greening the Government Commitment targets, switching to ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030 and halving emissions from public buildings by 2032 | Q2 2023 | ||
Buildings; Surface transport | Government estate | MoD | Develop and implement plans to make all public sector buildings and vehicle fleets within the department’s remit zero carbon in the long-term, switching to ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030 and halving emissions from public buildings by 2032. | Q2 2023 | ||
Buildings; Surface transport | Government estate | MoJ | Publish MoJ’s Net Zero Carbon Strategy. The strategy should include clear pathways for reaching Greening the Government Commitment targets, switching to ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030 and halving emissions from public buildings by 2032 | Q2 2023 | ||
Buildings; Surface transport | Home Office | Building on findings from the Home Office’s studies into net zero technologies and Electric Vehicle Charge Points, publish a net zero carbon strategy for the Home Office. The strategy should include clear pathways for reaching Greening the Government Commitment targets, switching to ultra-low emissions vehicles by 2030 and halving emissions from public buildings by 2032 | Q2 2023 | |||
Cross-cutting | Governance | Wales | Publish the analysis that supports the total and sectoral pathways set out in the Second Welsh Carbon Budget. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | Scotland | Publish the analysis that supports the total and sectoral pathways set out in the Scotland's Climate Change Plan update. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Delivery | Scotland | Scale up action to deliver targets across all sectors in line with the ambition set out in the recent Climate Change Plan update. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Data | ONS | Work with Government departments to fill the data gaps identified by CCC in the Monitoring Framework document accompanying this report. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | Ofwat | Ensure all regulatory decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | Ofgem | Ensure all regulatory decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | MoJ | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | MoJ | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), MoJ should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | MoD | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Business | HMT | BEIS; Defra | Building on the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative (VCMI) consultation in summer 2022, the Government should develop concrete proposals for standardising and regulating the claims corporates can make relating to offsets, for ensuring the quality and additionality of offsets on the market, and for directing carbon offsets to the highest quality and impact projects. | Q2 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Business | HMT | BEIS | Do not delay in taking steps to legislate for listed UK companies and financial institutions to publish transition plans from 2023. Publish plans for a clear transition plan standard, based on a transparent consultative process with experts, practitioners and private sector actors, and building on lessons learnt from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). It will be important to ensure the metrics and requirements are sufficiently ambitious, and where possible allow businesses to communicate their holistic contribution to the Net Zero transition, beyond direct emissions reduction | Q4 2022 | |
Cross-cutting | Governance | HMT | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Business, Infrastructure | HMT | UKIB | In the first plan of the UK Investment Bank, due in summer 2022, give consideration for how to navigate the dual goals of the organisation (to tackle climate change and support economic growth), introduce a Net Zero test on all investments, and outline how to capture wider social and resilience benefits of investments beyond financial returns. | Q3 2022 | |
Cross-cutting | Business | HMT | In the updated Green Finance Strategy expected later this year, include plans for how financial flows can be meaningfully monitored in advance of 2023, setting out key incentives for investors to shift practices, and an overall strategy for how total capital costs of Net Zero will be met by public and private funding sources. | Q4 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | HMT | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DWP | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DLUHC | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, planning decisions and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DLUHC | Introduce an urban greenspace target to reverse the decline and ensure towns and cities are adapted to more frequent heatwaves in the future and that the 25-Year Plan goals are met. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DLUHC | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Make clear the importance of ensuring that all developments consider how best to minimise lifetime emissions and adapt to climate change as part of the planning process. This should be achieved by embedding Net Zero alignment as a core requirement within the planning reforms in the upcoming Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and the supporting frameworks and guidance documents. | 2022 | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DLUHC | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), DLUHC should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Health | DHSC | Deliver climate policy that also has health benefits, such as active travel, access to green spaces, air quality, better buildings and healthier diets. This could be done by reviewing ways in which DHSC public guidelines could integrate messages that strengthen and make more evident the co-benefits of good nutrition and exercise for both health and for the environment. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DHSC | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DHSC | Fund the strengthening and widening of vector and pathogen surveillance and early-warning mechanisms, due to the increasing risk of disease spread as a result of climate change and other factors. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Health | DHSC | Publicly commit to providing additional, ringfenced funding to NHS England to fund the entirety of the delivery of its Net Zero plan. | Q1 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DHSC | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), DHSC should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DfT | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DfT | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), DfT should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | DfE | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DfE | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), DfE should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the one risk in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | Defra | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Trade and consumption emissions | Defra | ONS | The Government should increase investment in, and improve the collection and reporting of, consumption emissions data. This should include (a) establishing a short- and medium-term strategy to improve the underlying methodology to ensure it can capture key improvements in the carbon intensity of imports (b) ensuring the resource to enable annual emissions statistics to be produced promptly each year. | Q1 2024 | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | DCMS | National Adaptation Programme actions to enhance arrangements for information sharing between local infrastructure operators and improve understanding of critical risks arising from interdependencies must be completed. | Ongoing | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | The next National Adaptation Programme, due in 2023, should set out the Government’s vision for a well-adapted UK, alongside the measurable outcomes that the Government is aiming to achieve by the end of the next National Adaptation Programme period (2023 - 2028). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years, related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risks for which Defra has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to the viability and diversity of terrestrial and freshwater habitats and species from multiple hazards. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Implement a public engagement programme about national adaptation objectives, acceptable levels of risk, desired resilience standards, how to address inequalities, and responsibilities across society. The findings from the programme should feed into the vision and desired outcomes of the next National Adaptation Programme. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Fund a programme of work to design and populate the appropriate new priority adaptation indicators for England. These should complement other environmental and social indicators collated by Government. The CCC could be tasked to coordinate this activity in partnership with other relevant organisations such as the Office for Environmental Protection and Environment Agency. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Transparency | BEIS | Publish a quantified breakdown of the emissions savings from policies and measures that make up the savings given in the Net Zero Strategy. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Make the next round of reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) mandatory. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Work with Port Operators and the British Ports Association to ensure the format of reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power is appropriate for port operators and that the right operators are being asked to report, as well as to identify what further support could be offered to enable more comprehensive reporting on adaptation by the ports sector. | 2023 | ||
Yes | Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | The next National Adaptation Programme, due in 2023, should include a detailed monitoring and evaluation framework, including which indicators will be used to monitor progress in reducing risk and showing the effectiveness of different adaptation responses for each risk in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment. | 2023 | |
Yes | Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | The next National Adaptation Programme, due in 2023, should report how departments have addressed the top eight priority risks set out in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment Advice Report for urgent action between 2021 and 2023. | 2023 | |
Yes | Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | The next National Adaptation Programme, due in 2023, should set out how adaptation is being integrated into policy, and the measurable actions by department for adaptation across each of the 61 risks and opportunities set out in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment Technical Report for the period 2023-2028. | 2023 | |
Yes | Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | The next National Adaptation Programme, due in 2023, should ensure the adaptation actions and the programme as a whole are framed around the principles for good adaptation outlined in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment Advice Report. | 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), Defra should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the other risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Set the deadline for reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power to allow sufficient time for consideration of all the reports in the Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, and the CCC’s statutory assessment of progress on adaptation. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | Defra | Expand the list of organisations reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) to ensure comprehensive coverage of critical infrastructure and services, such as canals and food supply chains, as recommended by the ARP3 consultation. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Consumption emissions | Defra | BEIS | The Government should outline the UK's future ambitions on reducing consumption emissions. | Q1 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Governance | DCMS | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DCMS | DCMS should engage with utility companies to encourage standardised benchmarking and data sharing on climate risks to electricity networks, digital and ICT. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DCMS | Resilience standards for the digital sector must include requirements pertaining to climate change risks. In addressing the National Infrastructure Commission recommendations from the Resilience Study, Government should incorporate consideration of climate change risks and adaptation actions into any new standards being developed. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DCMS | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DCMS | Standards for digital infrastructure operators should include requirements to: assess climate risks under both 2°C and 4°C global climate scenarios; consider interdependencies with other critical infrastructure; and set out actions to reduce risk and monitor progress. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | FCDO | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), FCDO should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | DIT | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), DIT should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | CO and Number 10 | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | CO and Number 10 | BEIS; HMT; Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Ensure that all policies, funding, and delivery mechanisms are properly aligned to the pace of transition required and work together constructively towards Net Zero, for example through introduction of a Net Zero Test. | Q1 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Governance | CO and Number 10 | BEIS; Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Extend the delivery of climate skills training across the Civil Service and wider public sector. Consider what wider supporting skills (delivery, coordination, legal, financial) will be needed in the public sector to enable effective delivery of the transition to Net Zero. | Ongoing | |
Cross-cutting | Governance | CO and Number 10 | Produce guidance on how departments are expected to reflect Net Zero when updating their Outcome Delivery Plans. | Q1 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | CO and Number 10 | Cabinet Office should ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the priority Third Climate Change Risk Assessment risk for which it has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Multiple risks to the UK from climate change impacts overseas. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | CO and Number 10 | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), Cabinet Office should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the other risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | CO and Number 10 | Cabinet Office should build a strong climate resilience capability for the UK, including making use of storyline or ‘what-if’ scenarios to assess risks, in addition to or instead of using ‘reasonable worst-case’ approaches. It should develop an early warning system for global climate shocks. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | CO and Number 10 | Cabinet Office should consider how more allowance and flexibility can be built into policy making and policy implementation. This could include enhancing the ability of the Government to make fast decisions by bringing in technical advice and expertise quickly when needed, and both protecting, and enhancing, monitoring and surveillance systems to enable faster reactions as events unfold. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | CO and Number 10 | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Review how effective existing mechanisms for coordinating delivery with the devolved administrations (including the Inter-Ministerial Group, the Nations Board, and departmental-level engagement) have been at securing input to the design of and buy-in to implementation of recent major strategies relating to Net Zero. | 2022 | |
Cross-cutting | Business | BEIS | HMT | Across all sectors, for planned regulations and incentives such as carbon pricing, ensure thorough consultation with the private sector throughout the policy development process. Signals of intent should be given well in advance so that the private sector by default moves in step with the UK transition to Net Zero. | Ongoing | |
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | DLUHC; HMT | Ensure that the Local Net Zero Forum also addresses the question of local government powers, capability/capacity, and funding to identify gaps and barriers that could hinder the ability of local government to deliver the roles and responsibilities for delivery of Net Zero that have been agreed with central government. This should aim to build a better understanding of the current landscape, so that Government will be able to develop an evidence-based plan for how to enable cost-effective delivery of the actions that are required from local government; and share the insights, lessons and next-steps that the Forum has identified with all relevant authorities. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | CO and Number 10 | Develop a document setting out Government's vision of how its Net Zero Strategy will be delivered. This should clarify roles and responsibilities across central and local government, devolved administrations, regulatory agencies and the wider public sector, and business, how approaches will be coordinated, and how Net Zero interacts with other Government priorities. This document will need to be flexible and some aspects will be uncertain, so it should be updated annually. | 2022 |
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | DLUHC | Develop an agreed, consistent approach to developing local area energy plans. Local authorities should be supported (financially and with appropriate skills and knowledge-sharing) to develop these credible delivery plans, and they should become a condition of receipt of UK Infrastructure Bank and other Net Zero funding. | Q1 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Workers and skills | BEIS | DfE; DWP; DLUHC; Home Office | Publish an Action Plan for Net Zero Skills that includes a comprehensive assessment of when, where, and in which sectors there will be skill gaps specific to Net Zero. This should include consideration of particular barriers to labour market entry into occupations needed for the transition and Government plans for action on the skill system to facilitate entry into these occupations. | 2022 | |
Cross-cutting | Innovation | BEIS | Develop mechanisms to ensure knowledge is built upon and not lost, in order to speed up innovation, as well as accelerate and learn from implementation. This should build on the Net Zero Research and Innovation Framework and lessons learned from the success of vaccines development during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Public engagement | BEIS | Embed participatory and deliberative methods in the Net Zero policy-making process, where appropriate, as a means of improving the design of, the acceptability of, and public support for, new policies. Also embed key pillars of behavioural science to develop policies that make green choices easier. BEIS should take responsibility for ensuring these methods are coordinated across departments. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | Ensure that public bodies with a role in delivering Net Zero have a clear duty to facilitate this and work together. This should apply, for example, to Ofgem and the new Future System Operator. | 2022 | ||
Yes | Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | DLUHC; Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Ensure that the Local Net Zero Forum addresses the question of what aspects of Net Zero central and local government are responsible for and how these will be coordinated. As well as sharing local best practice, this should lead to a clearer shared understanding of roles and responsibilities which can be communicated across local government. | 2022 |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | Make the evidence on climate risks more usable for decision makers through co-design of research programmes with end users, where the user drives the research question from the beginning of the process. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | BEIS should engage with utility companies to encourage standardised benchmarking and data sharing on climate risks to electricity networks, digital and ICT. | Ongoing | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | Scotland; Wales; N Ireland | Increase transparency around Government's expected pathways to Net Zero. This should involve publishing more details on the assumptions that underpin these pathways and how the abatement set out in the Net Zero Strategy will be achieved by planned policies, setting out the quantified abatement expected to be achieved by each policy. | Q1 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | Defra; DIT | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the eight priority risks identified in the Committee’s advice on the Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment for which BEIS has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to the supply of food, goods and vital services due to climate-related collapse of supply chains and distribution networks (with Defra and DIT). | 2023 | |
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | Ensure that adaptation is integrated into major upcoming policies in the next two years related to the eight priority risks identified in the Committee’s advice on the Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment for which BEIS has lead responsibility, coordinating work with other relevant departments as necessary: Risks to people and the economy from climate-related failure of the power system. | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | For the coming five-year period (2023-2028), BEIS should outline appropriate actions in the next National Adaptation Programme to address the adaptation gap identified for the other risks and opportunities in the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment for which it is the lead department (see 2021 Adaptation Progress Report annex). | 2023 | ||
Cross-cutting | Public engagement | BEIS | Publish a public engagement strategy that sets out a clear long-term vision of how to engage people and businesses in delivering Net Zero. This should be inclusive and representative of the UK's diverse communities. It should include public communications to inform key audiences about the critical changes required to deliver Net Zero, and to build understanding of the associated timelines, benefits and costs. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | Publish the Terms of Reference and membership list for the Local Net Zero Forum. This should include both broad representation from across local government and senior decision-makers from central Government. | 2022 | ||
Cross-cutting | Adaptation | BEIS | Address the lack of research on impacts in 2ºC and 4ºC scenarios as an urgent priority ahead of the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment. | 2022 | ||
Yes | Cross-cutting | Governance | BEIS | Develop and begin to implement contingency plans to address the range of risks to meeting carbon budgets. These should broaden the set of emissions reductions pursued, in particular by including demand-side policies, and avoid increasing reliance on engineered removals. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Cross-cutting; Manufacturing and construction; Buildings | Electrification | HMT | BEIS | As part of reforms to electricity pricing, remove legacy policy costs associated with the historical deployment of less mature low-carbon electricity generation from electricity prices. These legacy costs create a market distortion. | 2022 |
Cross-cutting; Surface transport; Buildings; Manufacturing and Construction; Agriculture and Land use; Waste | Business | BEIS | Develop a strategy for engaging with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) on decarbonisation, particularly high-emission, low-engagement businesses. Introduce a package of measures within this, including a one-stop-shop for SMEs to get decarbonisation advice with a carbon foot-printing tool, develop a strengthened low-carbon advisor / auditor role for SMEs and develop an effective financing strategy to support SME decarbonisation. | 2023 | ||
Electricity supply | Supply chains | BEIS | Identify and address potential key supply chain bottlenecks for delivering up to 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030, including for investment in ports, adequate vessel capacity, manufacturing capability and floating wind. Take opportunities to link supply chain action to key decision points in offshore leasing and Contract for Difference auctions. | 2023 | ||
Yes | Electricity supply | Overall strategy | BEIS | Publish a comprehensive long-term strategy for achieving 95% low-carbon electricity by 2030, on the path to full decarbonisation by 2035. Ensure this sets out how the low-carbon flexibility options required to replace unabated gas by 2035 will be delivered, and identifies contingencies for addressing key risks (e.g. nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage). | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Electricity supply | Electricity market design | BEIS | Through the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, develop a strategy as soon as possible on market design for the medium- to long-term for a fully decarbonised, resilient electricity system in the 2030s and onwards. | 2023 | |
Yes | Electricity supply | Networks | BEIS | Ofgem | Publish a strategy to coordinate the development of interconnectors and connections for offshore wind farms to the onshore network, taking prompt action to ensure efficient implementation of the detailed regulatory and legislative changes necessary for their timely delivery. | 2022 |
Yes | Electricity supply | Networks | BEIS | Ofgem | Publish a strategic framework identifying the network requirements for Net Zero, and the changes needed to ensure investments in resilient infrastructure are identified, planned, consented and built in sufficient time to accommodate increased demand and generation. | 2022 |
Engineered removals | Governance | BEIS | Clarify which bodies and departments hold responsibility for delivering at-scale deployment of engineered removals and whether any new bodies will be established. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Engineered removals | Funding | BEIS | Publish a proposal on the business model for deployment of large-scale (>1 MtCO2/year) engineered removals. | Q1 2023 | |
Engineered removals | MRV | BEIS | Publish plans for monitoring, reporting and verification systems for engineered removals, noting the recommendations of the 2021 Task and Finish Group report and responses to the consultation on business models. | Q1 2023 | ||
Engineered removals | Legislation | BEIS | Take legislative steps to allow for engineered removals to count towards achievement of UK carbon budgets. | 2022 | ||
Engineered removals | Governance | BEIS | Scotland; N Ireland | Work with the Interministerial Group for Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change to publish a joint position on the contribution of engineered removals and CCS to meeting UK-wide and DA targets to 2030. | 2023 | |
F-Gas | F-gas technology replacement | DHSC | Publicly set targets to end the use of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) for all patients where alternatives can be used, by the mid-2020s, for all NHS and private healthcare services across the four nations of the UK. For patients where MDIs are necessary, end the use of MDIs that use propellant gases with 100 year Global Warming Potentials above 200 times that of carbon dioxide. Publish a plan setting out how the Government will meet these targets. | Q1 2023 | ||
F-Gas | HFC regulation | Defra | For the review of the F-gas Regulation happening this year, match or exceed any increase in ambition in EU F-gas Regulation, which is currently being reviewed. | 2022 | ||
F-Gas | HFC regulation | Defra | Pass legislation to reduce hydrofluorocarbon consumption by 85% by 2036 relative to 2011-2013. | Q1 2023 | ||
F-Gas | International F-gas action | Defra | DHSC | Publicly push for stronger international action on reducing F-gases under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, including making it compatible with reaching Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging more countries to ratify the Protocol and the Amendment, improving international monitoring of emissions, supporting the development of more robust estimates of emission metrics, and supporting the reduction of inhaler emissions in other countries' health services. | Q1 2023 | |
F-Gas; Buildings | F-gas technology replacement | BEIS | Publish targets for the roll-out from now until 2037 of heat pumps that do not use F-gases as a refrigerant and set out how the Government plans to meet these targets. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Fuel supply | Fossil fuel supply | BEIS | Clarify plans and responsibilities for electrification of oil and gas infrastructure through integration with the offshore wind planning process and/or onshore grid, so that by 2027 new oil and gas platforms can achieve zero emissions from operational energy use. | Q3 2023 | |
Yes | Fuel supply | Fossil fuel supply | BEIS | Develop minimum emissions-intensity standards for domestic oil and gas production by the next licensing round. In development, seek to ensure a consistent measurement approach with emerging international measurement standards. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Fuel supply | Hydrogen | BEIS | Establish funding mechanisms to support the development of 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030, ensuring these are designed to limit residual and upstream emissions, but also reflect hydrogen costs in a way that does not bias towards hydrogen where electrification is competitive. | 2023 | |
Fuel supply | Fossil fuel supply | BEIS | Make data on oil and gas production and emissions-intensity publicly available in a way that is consistent with the UK greenhouse gas inventory and differentiates between new and existing assets. | Q1 2023 | ||
Fuel supply, Engineered removals | Bioenergy | BEIS | Defra | Continue to take a global lead on further developing and improving UK and international biomass governance and sustainability criteria. | Ongoing | |
Fuel supply; Engineered removals | Bioenergy | BEIS | Defra | The Biomass Strategy needs to set out a best use hierarchy for biomass and address the sustainability of the biomass supply required to support the rapid and sustainable deployment of BECCS (for power and biofuels). The Strategy should consider reducing reliance on imports by increasing domestic biomass supply as part of wider land-use changes (including diet change). | Q4 2022 | |
International | Climate finance | HMT | COP Unit; FCDO | Follow up on commitment to restore UK Official Development Assistance to 0.7% of Gross National Income once the underlying debt to GDP ratio will be falling and the UK will not be borrowing to finance day-to-day spending, now expected by the OBR in 2023/24. Do not introduce additional conditions relating to macroeconomic and fiscal uncertainty | 2022 | |
Yes | International | UK pledges and commitments, Funding | HMT | BEIS | In line with the Glasgow Climate Pact commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, undertake a review of the role of tax policy in delivering Net Zero, building on the recent Net Zero Review to develop a systematic assessment of taxation and carbon pricing across the economy and addressing distortions from post-tax subsidies that stem from a disproportionately low carbon price. | 2023 |
International | Adaptation | Defra | To provide structure, consistency and direction to Adaptation Communications, the UK Government should outline when UK Adaptation Communications will be published in the future and how their timing fits with domestic policy cycles to enable a high impact communication. | 2022 | ||
International | Adaptation | Defra | The UK’s next Adaptation Communication should include strengthened adaptation policies, backed by quantitative targets where possible, strong cross-government policy to respond to key climate risks and a robust approach to monitoring and evaluation. | Ongoing | ||
International | Climate finance | FCDO | BEIS | Continue to deliver a broadly 50/50 split between adaptation and mitigation spend under UK International Climate Finance, looking for opportunities that advance both outcomes. | Ongoing | |
International | Strategy | BEIS | CO and Number 10; COP Unit | Develop a UK negotiating position for COP27 that strives to secure integrity, transparency and accountability of the international climate system, promote high ambition on mitigation and adaptation and provide support and equitable outcomes for developing countries. Communicate the core principles of this position and align with negotiating blocs that share these values. | 2022 | |
International | Climate finance | COP Unit; FCDO | BEIS | Use the remaining COP Presidency and the UK's diplomatic capability to ensure progress is made on developed country climate finance commitments including the delivery of the $100 billion by 2023 at the latest and the doubling of adaptation finance on 2019 levels by 2025. | 2022 | |
Yes | International | Strategy | BEIS | COP Unit; FCDO; DIT; HMT; Defra; DfT | The Government's 2030 Strategic Framework should set out how the international climate and environment capability built up during the UK's COP26 Presidency will be resourced, maintained and further developed to enable delivery of international climate goals. Particular focus should be given to plans for coordination and consistency across departments and the embedding of dedicated climate experts in areas such as trade, security and foreign policy. | 2022 |
International | UK NDC | BEIS | Conduct a comprehensive public engagement and consultation process on the target level and delivery of the NDC for emissions reductions to 2035 submitted in 2025. | 2024 | ||
International | UK pledges and commitments | BEIS | COP26 Sectoral Pledges signed by the UK should be detailed in the enhanced 2030 NDC the UK resubmits in 2022 for COP27 and UK domestic progress against them should be reported in Biennial Transparency Reports to the UNFCCC. | 2022 | ||
International | UK pledges and commitments | BEIS | Defra | Set out plans for reducing domestic methane emissions in line with the collective aims of the Global Methane Pledge (a reduction in UK methane emissions of at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030) and announce an intention to set a longer-term pathway for these emissions in 2023. These plans for contributing to the Global Methane Pledge should be included in the enhanced 2030 NDC the UK resubmits in 2022 for COP27. | 2022 | |
International | UK NDC | BEIS | Outline governance and accountability structures for tracking progress against the 2030 NDC target and future UK NDCs, noting that the UK NDC is not in scope of the Climate Change Act (2008) and the Carbon Budgets framework and is therefore not directly accountable to Parliament. | 2022 | ||
International | UK NDC and Adaptation | BEIS | Defra | The UK’s enhanced 2030 NDC should include language recognising that Net Zero delivery is at risk from climate impacts and that emissions reduction targets cannot be met without actions on adaptation that respond to a warming climate, such as the future proofing of critical energy infrastructure. | 2022 | |
Yes | International | UK NDC | BEIS | COP Unit; FCDO | Update the technical annex (the Information to facilitate Clarity, Transparency and Understanding) of the enhanced 2030 NDC the UK resubmits in 2022 for COP27 to expand on the role of the Net Zero Strategy in meeting the 2030 target. If there is a policy gap to 2030, Government should bring forward more policy and address how the gap will be closed in the enhanced 2030 NDC. The enhanced 2030 NDC should also explain the UK’s approach to the Just Transition, public engagement and participation, governance and reporting. | 2022 |
International; Cross-cutting | Governance | COP Unit; FCDO; DIT | Ensure all of the department's own policy decisions, and procurement decisions, are consistent with the Net Zero goal and reflect the latest understanding of climate risks. | Ongoing | ||
International; Cross-cutting | Strategy | BEIS | CO and Number 10; Defra; DfT; COP Unit; FCDO; DIT | Set out the Government's approach to domestically achieving aims of priority sectoral COP26 Pledges before COP27. | 2022 | |
Manufacturing and construction | Resource efficiency | ONS | Invest to progress the National Materials Datahub to track materials and products to share information on their quantity and quality for reuse and repurposing to retain materials at their highest value for as long as possible. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Manufacturing and construction | Fuel switching | HMT | Create a clear incentive for manufacturing facilities not currently covered by the UK ETS to switch to low-carbon energy sources by reforming the suite of energy and carbon policies, which could include changing the Climate Change Levy rates for electricity and gas. | Q1 2023 | |
Manufacturing and construction | Cross-cutting | BEIS | Commit to targets for ore-based steelmaking and cement production in the UK to reach near-zero emissions by 2035 and 2040, respectively. | 2023 | ||
Yes | Manufacturing and construction | Electrification | BEIS | Consult on a funding mechanism(s) to support the additional operational and capital costs of electrification in manufacturing. Support for electrification may be combined with reforms to electricity pricing. In combination, these should incentivise early deployment of new electrification. The mechanism should aim to allow hydrogen and electrification to compete on a level playing field in the medium term. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Manufacturing and construction | Data | BEIS | Defra; ONS | Review, invest in, and initiate reform of industrial decarbonisation data collection and annual reporting to enable effective monitoring and evaluation, and policy implementation. This will require additional data collection and reporting to allow for effective tracking of energy efficiency, material efficiency, fuel switching, CCS, including progress developing these measures, and more holistic measurement on a product or whole life cycle carbon basis. This reform should also be used as an opportunity to remove overlaps in reporting between existing schemes, which place an unnecessary burden on industry. | Q1 2023 |
Manufacturing and construction | Cross-cutting | BEIS | Consult on the policy design of demand-side policies (including product standards) for industrial products, following the commitment in the call for evidence: 'Towards a Market for Low Emissions Industrial Products'. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Publish the Government's ambition for annual abatement from manufacturing energy efficiency underpinning its strategy, and finalise the policies to deliver this energy efficiency abatement from 2023-2027, including by delivering final decisions on the future of Climate Change Agreements and Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) and through new policies, such as policy on energy management system adoption or products standards. | Q1 2023 | ||
Manufacturing and construction | Energy efficiency | BEIS | Resolve the distortive disincentive against electrification of sites within the UK ETS caused by the design of Climate Change Agreement targets. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction | Cross-cutting | BEIS | Ensure the policy package for decarbonising manufacturing addresses manufacturers’ low appetite for investments with long payback times, either using grants or favourable loans. This could be achieved through a clear longer-term role for the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. | Q1 2023 | ||
Manufacturing and construction | Innovation | BEIS | Continue to support innovation and demonstration of fuel switching and CCS technologies for end-use in manufacturing and construction, for example through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. | Ongoing | ||
Manufacturing and construction | Workers and skills | BEIS | DWP | Design industrial decarbonisation policies to support and create jobs, especially in regions with reliance on industrial jobs. | Ongoing | |
Manufacturing and construction; Agriculture and land use | Off-road mobile machinery | BEIS | DLUHC; DfT; Defra | Set out a strategy for decarbonisation of off-road mobile machinery to set direction for the private sector. The strategy should include policy proposals, which could include the future of emissions standards, and a proposal for how best local authorities can bring off-road mobile machinery into their regulatory framework for construction within urban areas. | Q1 2023 | |
Manufacturing and construction; Buildings; Agriculture and land use | Material Substitution | Defra | Publish the timber policy roadmap setting out the policies needed to substantially increase the use of wood in construction. | Q1 2023 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Buildings; Surface transport | Resource efficiency | DLUHC | DfT; BEIS | Set out a plan to make an assessment of whole-life carbon and material use of public and private construction projects mandatory by 2025, to enable minimum standards to be set. The whole life carbon assessment should be sought at the planning stage to enable efforts to reduce embodied carbon and materials. | 2022 | |
Manufacturing and construction; Engineered removals | CCS | BEIS | Finalise the Industrial Carbon Capture (ICC) business model and deliver the first industrial carbon capture contracts to enable final investment decisions on the first ICC projects in H1 2023, consistent with the Government's ambition to deploy carbon capture in at least two clusters by the mid-2020s. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Engineered removals; Electricity supply | CCS | BEIS | Finalise and deliver the Transport and Storage Regulatory Investment business model in 2022, consistent with the Government's ambition to establish at least two CCS transport and storage clusters in the mid-2020s. This will require promptly beginning the process of awarding permits and construction of the necessary infrastructure, to ensure that it is ready in time for deployment. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Engineered removals; Fuel supply; Waste; Electricity supply | CCS | BEIS | De-risk the future Carbon Capture and Storage project pipeline by launching the next cluster selection process in 2022, consistent with the Government's ambition to enable final investment decisions on Track 2 projects from 2024. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Fuel supply | Hydrogen | BEIS | Finalise the design of the hydrogen business model and Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Scheme (IDHRS) in 2022 to deliver funding to the first hydrogen production projects in 2023, ensuring they can be compatible with electrification/other decarbonisation options in the medium term. In addition, ensure that any further barriers to enabling the first hydrogen-use within industry, are removed. | 2022 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Fuel supply | Hydrogen | BEIS | Publish a plan for distribution and storage of hydrogen and other low-carbon infrastructure outside of clusters. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Manufacturing and construction; Fuel supply; Electricity supply | Trade and consumption emissions | HMT | BEIS; DIT; Defra | The Government should consult on plans to implement, by 2030 or earlier, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms and mandatory minimum climate-related standards on imports of selected manufactured products and energy. | 2022 |
Manufacturing and construction; Fuel supply; Electricity supply; Agriculture and land use | Trade and consumption emissions | DIT | DIT should enable BEIS, HMT and Defra to meet our recommended next steps on import policies including carbon border adjustment mechanisms, minimum standards and due diligence across manufactured products, energy, agricultural and forestry products. | Q1 2022 | ||
Yes | Manufacturing and construction; Waste | Resource efficiency | Defra | BEIS | Publish the Government's ambition for annual abatement from resource efficiency, by year, up to 2030, and clarify or set out the policies to deliver the ambition up until at least 2027. | 2022 |
Manufacturing and construction; Waste | Resource efficiency | Defra | Set the 'Resource efficiency and waste reduction’ target(s), enabled by the new Environment Act powers, in a way that drives the delivery of emissions abatement from resource efficiency set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy. This should recognise the role that raw material extraction and the design, longevity and reuse of materials and products can play in reducing the impacts of new product demand, while realising potential co-benefits. | Q1 2023 | ||
Manufacturing and construction; Waste | CCS | BEIS | Publish a plan for CO2 transport from dispersed sites before the end of 2022. | 2022 | ||
Shipping | Demand management | DfT | BEIS | Build upon the proposals for the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the UK MRV regulations to explore options for an activity-based measure of UK shipping emissions. This should include exploring the benefits of changing the emissions accounting approach for international shipping, to ensure that a fair share of emissions for voyages to and from the UK are captured within the UK's inventory even if vessels refuel in other jurisdictions. | 2023 | |
Shipping | Efficiency and electrification | DfT | Build upon the recent call for evidence to develop a plan for deploying shore power and electric recharging infrastructure at all of the UK's major ports. This should include identifying roles and responsibilities for delivery and providing support and incentives to drive investment. | Q1 2023 | ||
Shipping | Low-carbon fuel | DfT | BEIS | Commit to the UK’s first clean maritime cluster(s) operating at commercial scale (supplying at least 2 TWh/year of zero-carbon fuels) by 2030 at the latest. | 2022 | |
Shipping | Low-carbon fuel | DfT | Embed the Course to Zero into the next update of the Clean Maritime Plan. This should present a credible plan for how the trajectory to Net Zero will be delivered. | 2023 | ||
Shipping | Low-carbon fuel | DfT | Provide support and incentives to drive private-sector investment in low-carbon maritime fuels, engine technologies, and storage facilities. These should enable zero-carbon fuels to expand to 33% of UK shipping fuel use by 2035. | Ongoing | ||
Shipping | Demand management; low-carbon fuel | DfT | Publish the Course to Zero consultation. This should aim to set an ambitious trajectory to Net Zero for the domestic maritime sector. | 2022 | ||
Shipping | Low-carbon fuel | DfT | CO and Number 10 | Report on progress in identifying green shipping corridors and the actions to implement them, as agreed within the Clydebank Declaration. This should be published ahead of COP28. | 2023 | |
Yes | Shipping | Demand management; low-carbon fuel | DfT | CO and Number 10 | Take a leadership role in pushing for inclusion of a Net Zero 2050 target within the 2023 update of the International Maritime Organisation's initial greenhouse gas strategy. | 2023 |
Shipping | Demand management | BEIS | DfT | Consider how to avoid the extension of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to shipping displacing activity to higher-carbon alternative modes (e.g. road freight). | 2022 | |
Surface transport | Car demand | HMT | Scope and develop options for future fiscal policy to replace fuel duty, e.g. road pricing. | Q1 2023 | ||
Surface transport | Electric cars and vans | HMT | DfT | Develop plans for how targeted subsidies and taxation gradients will be used to support delivery of the ZEV mandate targets. These incentivise consumers to choose electric options and ensure that cost does not become a significant barrier to EV adoption. | Q1 2023 | |
Yes | Surface transport | Car demand | DLUHC | DfT | Embed sustainable transport within the upcoming planning reforms in the upcoming Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. This should recognise the role that place-shaping, active travel, public transport, and shared mobility can combine to play in reducing car dependence and realising a range of co-benefits. These factors should be required to be considered from the outset of all development planning. | 2022 |
Yes | Surface transport | Electric cars and vans | DfT | Confirm the details of the ZEV mandate in regulation. As set out in the consultation, this should impose targets on manufacturers that are at least as ambitious as those in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan and should drive consistent growth in sales of EV cars and vans through the 2020s to meet the 2030 phase-out date. | Q1 2023 | |
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | DfT | BEIS; Ofgem | Continue to support widespread deployment of charging infrastructure, ensuring that deployment rates accelerate in line with the trajectory required to deliver a minimum of 300,000 public charge points by 2030. | Ongoing | |
Surface transport | Zero-emission HGVs | DfT | Develop a comprehensive policy package to deliver the phase-out dates for non-zero-emission buses, HGVs, and other road vehicles. This should build on the emerging findings from the Zero-Emission Road Freight trials, the rollout of zero-emission buses, and the feedback on the details of the ZEV mandate for cars and vans. | 2023 | ||
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | DfT | Enact legislation requiring better reliability, accessibility, interoperability and ease-of-use at public charge points, as committed to in the Government response to the consultation on the consumer experience at public charge points. | Q1 2023 | ||
Surface transport | Zero-emission HGVs | DfT | Expand the current Zero-Emission Road Freight trials into full commercial-scale demonstrations of battery-electric, hydrogen, and electric road system technologies on UK roads. | 2024 | ||
Surface transport | Car demand | DfT | In further developing their thinking on Roads Investment Scheme 3, DfT and National Highways must rigorously assess the emissions impacts of these plans and thoroughly consider alternative approaches that could deliver similar benefits with lower emissions. The strategy should not aim to cater for unconstrained growth in road traffic and should be compatible with Net Zero. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Surface transport | Conventional vehicle efficiency | DfT | Introduce regulations to sit alongside the ZEV mandate to ensure that efficiencies of new conventional vehicles continue to improve and manufacturers reverse the trend towards larger vehicles. These need to be suitably ambitious to deliver the efficiency improvements and share of hybrid sales that are required to realise the necessary emissions reductions from these segments of the market. | Q1 2023 | |
Surface transport | Public transport | DfT | Prioritise delivery of a new, transparent fare structure that offers more affordable and reliable travel, ensuring fairness in relation to more carbon-intensive choices, and a more interlinked public transport system between operators. | Q1 2023 | ||
Surface transport | Public transport | DfT | Publish a comprehensive plan setting out how Government's target of removing diesel trains from the railway by 2040 and achieving a Net Zero rail network by 2050 or earlier will be achieved. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Active travel | DfT | Publish findings from e-scooter trials and set out a role for these vehicles, alongside e-bikes and bike/scooter sharing schemes, in delivering sustianable local transport systems. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Car demand | DfT | HMT | Reform the Transport Appraisal Guidance to ensure that it enables practitioners to make decisions that are consistent with the Net Zero pathway. DfT should consider whether a "vision and validate" approach to the future transport system might be more appropriate than a "predict and provide" one in this context. | 2022 | |
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | DfT | BEIS; Ofgem | Review and strengthen rapid charger rollout plans on the major road network out to 2035, to ensure that drivers have the confidence that they can find reliable, available charge points as EV uptake grows. | Ongoing | |
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | DfT | DLUHC | Set out clear expectations and targets as to what local authorities should do to develop and implement local charging strategies, along with milestones for the rate at which charge point provision is expected to expand. Ensure that local authorities all have the capacity and capability to develop these strategies and implement the actions required. | 2022 | |
Surface transport | Car demand | DfT | Set out measurable targets for the contribution that reducing car travel will play in delivering transport's Net Zero pathway. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Active travel | DfT | Set out, through Active Travel England, guidance for what actions local authorities should take to realise the Transport Decarbonisation Plan's commitment to half of all journeys in towns and cities being walked or cycled by 2030. This should be accompanied by the required funding. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Freight demand | DfT | Work with the freight industry to design and implement pilot schemes to explore approaches to reducing van and HGV usage in urban locations. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Public transport | DfT | BEIS | Work with the public transport sector to run a coordinated campaign to welcome people back to public transport after the pandemic. Work with operators and local transport authorities to avoid detrimental reductions in service provision or increases in fares. | 2022 | |
Surface transport | Electric cars and vans | BEIS | DfT | Consult on regulations requiring EV batteries sold in the UK to be recyclable. These should be coordinated with requirements in other markets to ensure that batteries can be reliably recycled across jurisdictions. | 2022 | |
Surface transport | Electric cars and vans | BEIS | DfT | Work with the UK car industry to ensure that, where viable, EV supply chains are localised within the UK. This should include support for gigafactories to scale up at the pace required for UK manufacturing capacity to meet the Faraday Institution's recommendation of 140 GWh per year by 2040. | Ongoing | |
Surface transport | Car demand; active travel | Scotland | Publish a strategy setting out how the Scottish Government will achieve a 20% reduction in car-kilometres by 2030 and deliver 20-minute neighbourhoods. This should be supported by: (1) continuing to strengthen schemes to support walking, cycling, and public transport, (2) investment in infrastructure connectivity to lock in positive behavioural changes that reduce travel demand (e.g. home-working), and (3) supporting the public transport and shared mobility sectors to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including through recovery funding and positive communication and messaging. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | Scotland | Continue to support the expansion of Scotland's public EV charge point network, to ensure the EV transition works for all road users in Scotland. | Ongoing | ||
Surface transport | Car demand; active travel | Wales | Deliver on the priorities set out in Llbwyr Newydd to reduce demand for higher-carbon travel. This includes: (1) delivering a better, more integrated, decarbonised bus system, (2) developing a network of connected local routes for walking and cycling, (3) investing in infrastructure connectivity to enable delivery of the ambition for 30% of the workforce to work remotely on a regular basis, and (4) supporting the public transport and shared mobility sectors to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including through recovery funding and positive communication and messaging. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | Wales | Support delivery of a charging network that meets the ambition set out in the Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy, to ensure the EV transition works for all road users in Wales. | Ongoing | ||
Surface transport | Car demand; active travel | N Ireland | Strengthen support for and provision of schemes to support walking, cycling and public transport to reduce Northern Ireland's high levels of car-dependence: (1) strengthen schemes to ensure access to local amenities without dependency on cars, (2) invest in infrastructure connectivity to lock in positive behavioural changes that reduce travel demand, e.g. home-working, and (3) support the public transport and shared mobility sectors to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including through recovery funding and positive communication and messaging. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | N Ireland | Support the deployment of public charge points across Northern Ireland, to address the issue that Northern Ireland currently has the fewest EV charge points per capita of any of the UK nations. | Ongoing | ||
Surface transport | Data | N Ireland | Resume collecting and publishing data on vehicle-kilometres travelled by mode in Northern Ireland. This will help identify which actions are effective in encouraging modal shift away from car travel. | 2022 | ||
Surface transport; Electricity supply | Electric vehicle charging infrastructure | DfT | HMT | Explore ways to reduce the cost of local public charging for drivers who do not access to private off-street parking to make it more comparable to charging at home. This could include reducing VAT on some public charging, requiring residential building owners to install charge points in shared car parks, or offering subsidised charging for local residents. | Q1 2023 | |
Waste | Infrastructure | Wales | Publish an assessment of residual waste treatment capacity needs through to 2050, consistent with meeting committed and prospective recycling and waste reduction targets, expected resource efficiency improvements and the stated goal to end the landfilling of biodegradable waste by 2025. The findings of this review should inform future incineration/EfW capacity decisions and consider the feasibility of phasing out waste exports by 2030. | 2022 | ||
Waste | Energy from Waste / Incineration | Scotland | Start reporting emissions from Energy from Waste as a seperate source within the Scottish greenhouse gas inventory. | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste | Cross cutting | Ofwat | Defra | Require and facilitate water companies and industrial wastewater facilities to measure and report on emissions, including process emissions. Funding should be made available for monitoring and research to improve process emissions measurement and mitigation. | Q1 2023 | |
Waste | Infrastructure | N Ireland | Publish an assessment of residual waste treatment capacity needs through to 2050, consistent with meeting committed and prospective recycling and waste reduction targets, expected resource efficiency improvements and ending the landfilling of biodegradable waste by 2028 at the latest. The findings of this review should inform future incineration/EfW capacity decisions and consider the feasibility of phasing out waste exports by 2030. | 2022 | ||
Waste | Landfill and waste prevention | Defra | Clarify details of how £295m capital funding for food waste collections announced in the Net Zero Strategy will be spent to prevent food waste from going to landfill | 2022 | ||
Waste | Cross cutting | Defra | Ofwat | Clarify OFWAT's mandate to enable efforts to decarbonise wastewater treatment in addition to scrutinising companies' business plans ahead of the 2024 Price Review. | Q1 2023 | |
Waste | Energy from Waste / Incineration | BEIS | Defra | Confirm the position of the draft National Planning Statement for Renewables which states that further Energy from Waste plants should only be built where they can be demonstrated to be consistent with residual waste capacity needs and the waste hierarchy, and set out how these assessments will be made. Any new EfW plants (not currently under construction) should also be required to demonstrate readiness for carbon capture deployment. | Q1 2023 | |
Waste | Waste prevention | Defra | Finalise plans to introduce mandatory business food waste reporting so that it can be phased in from the beginning of 2024. Engage WRAP in providing or brokering consistent methods of measurement and associated data sets. | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste | Landfill | Defra | Formalise commitment to prevent key biodegradable waste streams (including municipal and non-municipal sources) from going to landfill by 2028 at the latest and clarify details of additional policies needed to achieve this. | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste | Waste prevention | Defra | Formally set the proposed target for reducing residual waste (to landfill, incineration or export) by 50% by 2042. | Q1 2023 | ||
Yes | Waste | Cross cutting | Defra | BEIS; Wales; Scotland; N Ireland | Publish a detailed plan to decarbonise the waste sector (including Energy from Waste and wastewater) in line with meeting the Sixth Carbon Budget and Net Zero. | 2023 |
Waste | Market conditions | Defra | HMT | Publish a review of incentives across the waste sector to ensure they are appropriate for achieving dual aims of waste reduction and decarbonisation. This should consider pricing of waste management solutions as well as materials. | 2023 | |
Waste | Infrastructure | Defra | Publish an assessment of residual waste treatment capacity needs through to 2050, consistent with meeting committed and prospective recycling and waste reduction targets, expected resource efficiency improvements and the stated goal to end the landfilling of biodegradable waste by 2028. The findings of this review should inform future incineration/EfW capacity decisions and consider the feasibility of phasing out waste exports by 2030. | 2022 | ||
Waste | Infrastructure | Defra | BEIS | Review planning policies for waste infrastructure to ensure they enable delivery of recycling targets, support future residual waste needs and consider decarbonisation requirements. This includes clarifying siting requirements for incinerators to enable CCS adoption. | 2023 | |
Waste | Landfill | Defra | Set an ambition to improve methane capture and oxidisation rates at landfill sites and review the incentives and broader support necessary to achieve that ambition | 2023 | ||
Waste | Cross cutting | Defra | Set out how industry will be supported in developing advanced technologies to reduce emissions from anaerobic digestion, composting and wastewater. | 2023 | ||
Waste | Energy from Waste / Incineration | BEIS | Defra | Continue to develop plans for shifting towards an Energy from Waste fleet fitted with CCS from the end of this decade. As part of this set out an assessment of potential viability of existing and future Energy from Waste sites for CCS and implications for decarbonising the sector. | 2023 | |
Waste; Agriculture and land use | Waste prevention and public engagement | Defra | Consider the findings of the Environment and Climate Change Lords Select Committee inquiry into mobilising action on climate change and fund WRAP to undertake an assessment of the behaviour changes needed to achieve targets for food waste reduction, recycling and improved end user consumption' | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Wales | Set ambitious recycling targets for 2030 and beyond, improving on the 70% target for 2025. | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Wales | Set out and implement additional policies necessary to achieve waste reduction and recycling targets, as part of delivering the Beyond Recycling Strategy more broadly. | 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Scotland | Legislate the Circular Economy Bill and set targets to reduce waste and improve recycling rates beyond 2025, ensuring these are more ambitious than existing targets. | 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | N Ireland | Finalise the Green Growth Plan and Environment Strategy and ensure it includes targets for waste reduction and recycling out to 2030 and beyond that are more ambitious than existing targets. | 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | N Ireland | Set out policies to deliver waste and circular economy objectives of the Green Growth Strategy and Environment Strategy. | Q1 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Market conditions | HMT | Defra | Review the impact of the newly introduced plastics tax and consider opportunities to go further, including integrating an escalator on the price of the tax and the recycling threshold to which it applies. | 2023 | |
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Defra | Finalise the Waste Prevention Programme, including by setting out details on additional policies needed to achieve committed recycling and waste reduction targets, including additional Extended Producer Responsibility schemes committed in the draft WPP. | 2023 | ||
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Defra | Wales; Scotland; N Ireland | Implement initial Extended Producer Responsibility, the Deposit Return Scheme and consistent collections of recycling and food waste without further delay. Complete an independent review of the impact of the schemes within 2 years of implementation (i.e. by 2026). | Q1 2024 | |
Waste; Manufacturing and construction | Waste prevention | Defra | Set ambitious post-2035 recycling targets alongside possible policy options for delivering such targets, including increasing investment to deliver long-term infrastructure needs. | 2023 |
5. Supporting information, charts and data
- Progress in reducing emissions – 2022 Report to Parliament – Charts and data
- Progress in reducing emissions – 2022 Report to Parliament – Indicators
- Progress in reducing emissions – 2021 Recommendation scores
- Policy implementation timeline – Buildings
- Policy implementation timeline – Aviation
- Policy implementation timelines – Waste
6. Supporting research
7. Event highlights
Topics
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