The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is advocating for greater parliamentary oversight of the government’s carbon budget plans amidst concerns about meeting emission reduction targets.
Addressing issues raised by the Prime Minister regarding limited parliamentary engagement in previous carbon budget legislative processes, the EAC proposes a more proactive approach.
This includes parliamentary committees scrutinising recommendations from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and government proposals before the formal presentation of a draft order for carbon budget approval.
Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Philip Dunne, said: “Achieving net zero is an enormous undertaking that is already driving change and transition in sectors throughout the economy.
“While good progress has been made in meeting previous carbon budgets, the CCC has identified significant risks to achieving the challenging targets set by Parliament under the fifth and sixth carbon budgets.
“In his September 2023 speech on net zero, the Prime Minister made the fair point that opportunities for Parliamentary scrutiny of proposals to deliver previous carbon budgets had been very limited.
“The government is not required to explain to Parliament how it proposes to meet Carbon Budget targets until after the legislation setting the targets has been passed.
“This ought to change. Retrospective scrutiny once the carbon budget and the delivery plan are official policy puts us all on the back foot. MPs should have the opportunity to scrutinise robustly the policy proposals put forward to meet the government’s climate goals, and to examine whether the level the carbon budget has been set at is achievable while maintaining public support for decarbonisation.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told Energy Live News: “We remain committed to our existing climate change targets and are on track to meet net zero in 2050, having cut our emissions faster than any major economy since 1990.
“The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third, with the UK now accounting for 1% of annual global emissions.
“We will be reviewing the proposals from the Environmental Audit Committee in due course.”
Make sure you check out the latest Net Hero Podcast episode:
Net zero is a way to cut your costs and help the planet, so what’s stopping you? Often, it’s just the right help and advice. That’s what we will provide at the Big Zero Show this July. Workshops, expert speakers, case studies and exhibitions. Plus, networking with 1500 peers and potential customers. Register for free now.
