The British government has been too slow in delivering its "historic" promises to tackle climate change and is risking losing face before the rest of the world in the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP26), to be held in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November, the Climate Change Committee warned on Thursday
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2021) The British government has been too slow in delivering its "historic" promises to tackle climate change and is risking losing face before the rest of the world in the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP26), to be held in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November, the Climate Change Committee warned on Thursday.
The UKs independent adviser said in two progress reports that the ten-point plan to deliver the country's 2050 net zero target, unveiled last year by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, "was an important statement of ambition, but it has yet to be backed with firm policies."
"Continue to be slow and timid and the opportunity will slip from our hands. Between now and COP 26 the world will look for delivery, not promises," the committee's chairman John Deben said.
The British government, which committed 11.6 billion Pounds ($15.9 billion) over the next five years in climate finance, has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
The CCC warned, however, that despite emissions in the UK falling to nearly 50% of their 1990 levels during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, the journey to net zero is not even half completed.
They also recommended the government bring forward the heat and buildings strategy to ensure buildings are kept warm in the winter and cool in the summer, deliver plans on greener road transport, aviation and food, and overhaul planning rules to make sure all infrastructure projects are compatible with keeping emissions low and coping with future climate extremes.
The governments department for business, Energy and Industrial Strategy rebuffed criticism from the CCC, arguing that "any suggestion we have been slow to deliver climate action is widely off the mark."
"The Committee on Climate Change knows there are many different polices that are under development that we helped bring forward for the year ahead that will help get us to those targets," it said in a statement.
The CCC was set up in 2008 under Climate Change Act to advise the British government and Parliament on tackling and preparing for climate change.
