Climate Change: UK Government ‘Not Acting Fast Enough’

 

The UK government is facing a “get real” moment over global heating, its advisers have said.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said ministers were failing to cut emissions fast enough, and failing to adapt to rising temperatures.

The committee chairman said ministers were acting like the hapless characters from the vintage comedy, Dad’s Army.

The government said it would soon set out plans to tackle emissions from aviation, heat, energy and transport.

The prime minister recently announced that the UK would lead the world by cutting almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – so-called net zero.

She also aspired to the UK hosting a hugely important global climate summit next year.

But the CCC said that the UK was already stumbling over measures needed to achieve the previous target of an 80% emissions cut.

Its report says new policies must be found to help people lead good lives without fuelling global warming.

Policies are needed to ensure that people living in care homes, hospitals and flats can stay cool in increasingly hot summers.ADVERTISEMENT

And ministers must show how funds will be found to protect critical infrastructure – like ports – from rising sea levels.

The committee said unless it delivered on these issues, the government would not have the credibility to host a global climate change summit of world leaders, likely to be held in the UK next year.

The committee’s deputy chairwoman Baroness Brown told BBC News: “There’s an increasing sense of frustration that the government knows what it has to do – but it’s just not doing it.”

The committee said the government’s 2040 goal to eliminate emissions from cars and vans was too late.

New ways must be found to nudge some drivers into walking, cycling and taking public transport, it believes.

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Image captionThe UK is failing to adapt, says the committee

Source: BBC News. To read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48929632