Friends of the Earth threaten legal challenge to Government about inadequate net zero strategy
Ministers may have to rethink their plans for meeting net zero for a second time after green campaigners took the first step towards a legal challenge over inadequate action on climate change. Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, was forced last month to publish a revised version of the government’s net-zero strategy, after the High Court ruled the original was unlawful. The new plan included a mandate to ensure that 28% of car sales were electric by 2025, an extension of grants for heat pumps and a Great British Insulation Scheme. Shapps could now have to revisit the plan again. Friends of the Earth, which brought last year’s court case along with the Good Law Project and ClientEarth, has given him until Friday 28th April to respond to a pre-action letter. It is the first step towards applying for a judicial review. The group’s focus is the lack of detail on the risk of policies failing to deliver the emissions cuts needed for Britain’s legally binding “sixth carbon budget” by 2037. There is no realistic plan to cut the emissions from aviation, other than hopes of so-called “sustainable aviation fuels” (SAF) which is highly unlikely to be available in large amounts.
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Friends of the Earth threaten legal challenge to new net zero strategy
Shapps’s department may be required to revisit climate plan to ward off court battle
By Adam Vaughan, Environment Editor (The Times)
April 23 2023
Ministers may have to rethink their plans for meeting net zero for a second time after green campaigners took the first step towards a legal challenge over inadequate action on climate change.
Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, was forced last month to publish a revised version of the government’s flagship net-zero strategy, after the High Court ruled the original was unlawful. The new plan included a mandate to ensure that 28 per cent of car sales were electric by 2025, an extension of grants for heat pumps and a Great British Insulation Scheme.
Shapps could now have to revisit the plan again. Friends of the Earth, which brought last year’s court case along with the Good Law Project and ClientEarth, has given him until this Friday to respond to a pre-action letter. It is the first step towards applying for a judicial review.
The group’s focus is the lack of detail on the risk of policies failing to deliver the emissions cuts needed for Britain’s legally binding “sixth carbon budget” by 2037, the letter seen by The Times shows.
The only assessment of risk the government has made public is in its carbon budget delivery plan, published last month. That document showed the government only has “high confidence” in policies covering 40 per cent of the emissions savings required by 2037.
Katie de Kauwe, a lawyer at Friends of the Earth, said that left a huge uncertainty over the levels of confidence that officials have in the remaining 60 per cent.
“If a strategy is very high risk, surely the public should be entitled to know about that. At the moment there is very little information in there. Obviously a pre-action letter is not a commitment to litigate, it is a first and important step. But if the government’s response is inadequate, I can certainly see us taking them to court again,” she said.
A leaked document indicates that 21 of 44 of the net-zero policies, including on tree-planting and peatland restoration, would be difficult to accomplish
The legal basis for the challenge is whether or not Shapps met the Climate Change Act’s obligations to prepare policies that will ensure carbon targets are met. Friends of the Earth won in the High Court last year over that duty, after a judge ruled the net-zero strategy provided insufficient detail.
If the group’s demands for more detail on risk are not met, a court hearing is likely to take place this year. The idea that some of the policies may be at risk of delivery is not just speculation. A leaked document by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has shown that 21 of 44 of its net zero policies, including on tree planting and peatland restoration, would be hard to achieve.
Last month’s carbon plan also revealed that the government faces a small shortfall for the 2037 carbon target, of 3% of the emissions savings needed.
Ministers argued the gap would be filled by technology developments. Graham Stuart, the climate minister, said: “Technology does tend to advance. We are obliged under the [Climate Change] Act to give a very high degree of certainty. We have given ourselves a very small headroom. We just know there are new technologies coming through, and it will be irrational to overcommit in areas.”
Shapps’s department is the subject of a complaint being reviewed by the Information Commissioner’s Office, brought by The Times, over its past failures to disclose the estimated emission savings of individual measures in the net zero strategy, such as insulating more homes. A ruling is expected by the data watchdog imminently.
The government was contacted for comment.
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Ministers have no clear plan for net zero, says watchdog (Scotland)
By Craig Paton (The Times)
April 20 2023
Stephen Boyle, the auditor general, said parts of government could be better co-ordinated
It is not clear what Scottish government actions will be taken to limit the risk of climate change, the spending watchdog has said in a new report.
Nicola Sturgeon declared a climate emergency in 2019, setting a target of achieving net zero by 2045. But the climate change committee said last year the government had missed seven out of 11 targets and there was “no clear plan of delivery” for reducing emissions by 75 per cent by 2030.
A new report released by Audit Scotland said improvements were necessary in the governance arrangements within government aiming to meet the climate change targets, particularly around how risks are managed.
According to the watchdog, climate change has been given a “high risk score” on a government risk register — a document which assesses the likelihood and impact of problems arising across government — meaning “it is very likely that net zero targets will not be achieved and that the impact of this would be severe”.
The report adds: “It is not, however, clearly specified what actions will be taken to reduce the overarching net zero risk or how the actions will impact on the risk score. Targets to reduce the risk score have been repeatedly missed and the level of risk remains high.”
The auditor also found that, until December, there was not a specific risk logged on the corporate risk register relating to the adaptation to the impacts of climate change and it was therefore less likely to be considered at an executive level.
Stephen Boyle, the auditor general, said: “The Scottish government’s set up for responding to the climate crisis has constantly evolved since 2019. But the different parts of government could be better co-ordinated.
“The government’s risk management arrangements also need to improve, particularly the work needed to ensure Scotland adapts to the impact of climate change.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-have-no-clear-plan-for-net-zero-says-watchdog-6vxcvncq6
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Net zero strategy shows UK will miss 2030 emissions cuts target
Government admits its policies will achieve only 92% of cuts and experts think that is a ‘generous reading’
By Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose (The Guardian)
Thu 30 Mar 2023
The UK government has said it is still on track to meet its international climate commitments under the Paris agreement, as analysis of its energy plans suggested more drastic policies would be needed to make the required carbon cuts.
Ministers announced the UK’s revamped net zero strategy on Thursday, with a raft of documents exceeding 1,000 pages, setting out policies on sectors from biomass to solar power, and from electric vehicles to nuclear reactors. It came as Rishi Sunak headed to Oxfordshire to visit a development facility for nuclear fusion, accompanied by Grant Shapps, the energy and net zero secretary.
The prime minister said: “People should be really proud of the UK’s track record on all of this. If you look at it, we’ve decarbonised faster than any other major economy. Our carbon emissions have been reduced by over 40%, much more than all the other countries that we compete with.”
Shapps later told Sky News: “We all know that electricity can be a big way to decarbonise, but we also know these are big changes. So this is not a sort of rip-out-your-boiler moment. This is a transition over a period of time to get to homes which are heated in a different way and also insulated much better.”
The government’s analysis, however, shows that its new policies will meet only 92% of the emissions cuts required and, without further changes, the target will be missed.
At the heart of its strategy is the UK’s legally binding requirement to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and its commitment under the Paris agreement to a plan – called a nationally determined contribution, or NDC – to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. The 2030 pledge, boasted of as “world-leading” in the run-up to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, is vital to get the UK on track to meet the long-term goal, and will be closely scrutinised by other governments.
Within the dense pages of analysis and recommendations, the official assessment of the NDC stood out: “We have quantified emissions savings to deliver 88 megatonnes or 92% of the NDC. We are confident that the delivery of emissions savings by unquantified policies detailed in this package will largely close this gap and the government will bring forward further measures to ensure [it] will meet its international commitments if required.”
However, Chris Venables, the head of politics at Green Alliance thinktank, said: “Our analysis shows that even that 92% is a very generous reading. It is hard to celebrate an announcement that says itself it’s not enough. The bottom line is that this plan doesn’t plot a route to net zero. There are only so many times we can claim climate leadership while falling short of our own targets.”
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate and net zero secretary, told MPs: “A target for less than seven years’ time, and they [the government] are miles off … all of the policies, all of the hot air, don’t meet the target they promised on the world stage.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero told the Guardian: “We remain committed to delivering our international commitments, including the 2030 NDC under the Paris agreement which we fully expect to meet. We are on track to deliver our carbon budgets, creating jobs and investment across the UK while reducing emissions. Our carbon budget delivery plan is a dynamic long-term plan for a transition that will take place over the next 15 years, setting us on course to reach net zero by 2050.”
A few of the winners …
Electric vehicles
Car manufacturers must ensure a proportion of their sales are of electric vehicles – 22% of cars and 10% of vans by 2024 – under a zero emissions vehicle mandate, though campaigners said the proportion had been set too low. About £800m in capital funding is being made available for electric vehicles, and there will be a boost to EV charging infrastructure.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Much of the government’s strategy for continuing with fossil fuel development – with decisions on potential new oil and gas fields imminent – rests on the deployment of technology to capture and store carbon dioxide in geological formations under the North Sea. The government shortlisted eight projects to move ahead in its funding scheme, including one backed by oil giant BP, and expects to make £20bn of investment available over 20 years in CCS.
Hydrogen and nuclear
The government named 20 new hydrogen projects that are on track to receive a share of £240m, to help the development of a fuel the government sees as central to the UK’s low-carbon future. It comes despite doubts among experts over some of its applications – particularly in home heating – and some of its sources, as fossil fuel companies are looking to hydrogen to allow them to continue drilling. Great British Nuclear will be a new organisation intended to come forward with small nuclear projects that the government believes will be key to its aim of generating a quarter of the UK’s electricity from nuclear by 2050.
And some of the gaps and the losers …
Onshore wind
The government dashed hopes that its new strategy might lift the ban on onshore windfarms in England. The lack of action has frustrated leading academics and green groups because onshore windfarms could begin powering the grid far sooner than nuclear reactors, and would help to reduce energy bills. Dr Daniel Quiggin, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, said onshore wind could bring greater real emissions reductions than removing emissions from the air via carbon capture technology.
Grid connections
While the government hopes to boost renewable power generation, and nuclear energy, there was little detail on how to solve one of the most pressing problems for the UK’s ageing electricity network. New windfarms and other sources of power, and the battery storage facilities needed to smooth out the intermittency of renewable power, can wait years for the grid connections they need, partly owing to the difficulty of getting planning permission and partly to a lack of grid capacity.
Andy Willis, the founder of Kona Energy, said: “Without significant grid connection reform, the vast potential of clean energy development will linger, trapped behind red tape and bureaucratic delays.”
Farming
There was little reference to agriculture, even though farming and food prices are highly sensitive to energy costs and agriculture is one of the biggest single sources of UK emissions. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was involved in the Whitehall discussions around Thursday’s announcements, but a key land use strategy is not due until the end of June. Then, both the future of farming emissions and the potential for growing trees and restoring landscapes to store carbon – and offset the UK’s remaining emissions by 2050 – will be addressed.
Biomass
There was drama on the stock market on Thursday as shares in Drax, which operates the UK’s biggest power station burning biomass, fell early on after the government appeared to reject its plea for increased subsidies for a project to capture and store the carbon dioxide from its wood burning. But Drax quickly pointed out that the main decisions on subsidies will follow later, by the end of June, when a biomass strategy is promised. The market confusion arose, the company claimed, because the government had separated its process for supporting hydrogen, gas and CCS projects from its consideration of biomass subsidies.
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