In its latest report to Parliament on progress in reducing emissions the CCC says that it is now 'markedly less’ confident than it was in its previous assessment a year ago that the UK can meet its net zero goals from 2030 onwards. ‘A key opportunity to push a faster pace of progress has been missed,’ according to the CCC.

The report confirms that UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have so far fallen 46% from 1990 levels. However, at COP26, an ambitious 2030 commitment was made to reduce them by 68%, meaning that in only seven years, the recent rate of annual emissions reduction outside the electricity supply sector must quadruple, notes the CCC.

‘Time is now very short to achieve this change of pace,’ it warns.

The CCC also points out that the UK ‘has sent confusing signals on its climate priorities to the global community’, with support for new oil and gas, consent for a new coal mine in Cumbria and airport expansion plans ‘undermining the careful language negotiated by the UK COP26 Presidency in the Glasgow Climate Pact’.

Although ‘glimmers’ of hope for the energy transition can be seen in growing sales of new electric cars and the continued deployment of renewable capacity in the UK, the CCC warns that the scale up of action overall is ‘worryingly slow’.

It also points out that the government ‘continues to place its reliance on technological solutions that have not been deployed at scale’, rather than encouraging people and communities to make low-carbon choices, such as implementing energy efficiency measures and installing heat pumps.

The CCC also says that ‘a lack of government support’ means that areas such as the decarbonisation of heavy industry, the uptake of electric vans and peatland reforestation are ‘significantly off track’ from meeting decarbonisation targets.

Calling for net zero to ‘return to top billing’, the CCC points out that progress has not been made on seven of the priority recommendations it made to government in last year’s progress report.

Noting that the UK government has ‘been slow to react’ to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the European Union’s proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, which are ‘now a strong pull for green investment away from the UK’, the CCC states that: ‘It is critical that the UK re-establishes its climate leadership with a clearer strategy to develop net zero industries and technologies in the UK and capture the economic benefits of net zero, with actions that create demand-pull for the critical technologies that will shape the UK’s progress over the next decade’. It sets out 27 priority recommendations in its latest report.

Commenting on the report’s publication, Lord Deben, Chairman of the Climate Change Committee, said: ‘Even in these times of extraordinary fossil fuel prices, government has been too slow to embrace cleaner, cheaper alternatives and too keen to support new production of coal, oil and gas. There is a worrying hesitancy by Ministers to lead the country to the next stage of net zero commitments. I urge the government to regroup on net zero and commit to bolder delivery. This is a period when pace must be prioritised over perfection.’

Speaking to the BBC, Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Graham Stuart said that the government had met all its carbon targets to date and was ‘confident’ of doing so in the future. Responding to criticism of the government’s continued support for oil and gas projects, Stuart stressed that despite an unprecedented role for renewables, the UK would remain dependent on oil and gas for power generation for decades to come.

Meanwhile, Energy Institute CEO Nick Wayth CEng FEI commented: ‘The CCC plays a pivotal role in tracking the UK’s journey to net zero, so it’s alarming to hear that progress is faltering.’

‘Mirroring the global findings of our Statistical Review of World Energy published last week, the UK’s energy system is struggling in the face of environmental and geopolitical barriers, and clearly more must be done.’

He concluded: ‘We must seize the opportunity to accelerate our efforts to deliver the energy transition: driving energy efficiency, unlocking barriers to low-carbon supplies and decarbonising oil and gas.’