Weekly Blog - 27 March 2023 - UK Net Zero Strategy
UK net zero strategy
On Thursday 30 March the UK published its revised net zero strategy. The plans are meant to set out how the UK will achieve its legally binding target of reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Net zero means the country will have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions as much as it can, and any remaining emissions will be absorbed by natural processes such as planting trees. The plans include multiple initiatives, such as making it easier to install heat pumps rather than gas central heating in homes; investing £20 billion in carbon capture and storage (capturing and storing carbon underground rather than releasing it into the atmosphere); £160 million for port infrastructure and offshore wind power; new green hydrogen; new nuclear power; more electrical vehicle charging points, and various other policies.[1]
So how do the UK government’s plans stack up? Whilst there are some good policies in the package, there is essentially no new initiatives or money, rather re-announcements of already existing commitments. Taken together the plans are woefully inadequate and will not get the UK to net zero, and certainly not anywhere near fast enough. So, in this week’s Arise weekly blog we look at what should be in those plans instead.
The importance of tackling climate change
It is desperately important that the UK (and indeed every other nation in the world) prioritises tackling climate change as a matter of extreme urgency. Last week saw the release of a major new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the world’s leading scientific body on climate change). The report is yet another reminder of just how serious global climate change has become and of the need to take urgent action. In recent years the impacts of climate change have included heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, wildfires, landslides, massive polar melting, the melting of the world’s glaciers, sea-level rise, the devastation of coral systems, mass food and fresh water shortages, ill health, huge negative economic impacts, conflicts over scarce resources, the creation of huge numbers of climate refugees, and much more. In the past 6 months alone, we have seen a massive and tragic food crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, record temperatures in the UK and Europe, and devastating floods in Pakistan and New Zealand, all as a result of global climate change. It is developing countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Pakistan, whose greenhouse gas emissions are a fraction of those of more developed nations, that have done the least to cause climate change, but are now being hit first and hardest by a changing climate.
As Christians what should we do about it?
As Christians we know we are called both to care for God’s amazing creation, and to love our neighbours, especially the most vulnerable. We read in Genesis how humanity was instructed both to work God’s creation and to “take care of it” (Gen 2: 15). Later the book of Proverbs tells us “The righteous care about justice for the poor” (Prov 29: 7). We therefore need to meet immediate urgent needs for those whose lives have already been devastated by climate change. And we also need to tackle the long-term underlying causes, and urgently get out of fossil fuels which are driving global climate change, and instead shift to 100% clean renewable energy, which does not lead to climate change, and is cheaper as well.
So what should be in the government’s net zero strategy?
A major piece of research from Arise, the 4 Shifts Report, looks at what the Bible teaches us and the lessons from history about how we can rewire our global economy to be green and fair, so it still creates the jobs and wealth that lift people out of poverty, but does so without relying on fossil fuels and overconsumption which is wrecking our planet. Four Shifts economics captures the two great shifts that the world needs to secure a safe environmental ceiling that keeps us well within planetary boundaries: from polluting fossil fuels to renewable clean energy, and from overconsumption and waste to a circular economy that eliminates all waste and re-uses resources. It then holds them together with the two great shifts on development that are necessary for guaranteeing the social floor, which lifts all out of poverty and below which no one should be allowed to fall: strong and fair economies from which nations can tax and provide social spending to meet basic needs.
The government’s net zero strategy should encompass the first of these great shifts, from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy. This means rapidly scaling down the use of fossil fuels to absolute zero emissions and scaling up clean energy to 100% by 2030 (not 2050), banning all fossil fuels from this date. This would need to be implemented in every sector: energy, transport, buildings, industry etc. It will need to be rolled out through multiple policies, such as an immediate ban on coal-fired power plants and all other new fossil fuel production, and using quotas and targets to rapidly scale down oil and gas use. It would further mean massively supporting solar, wind, hydropower, tidal, wave and ocean current driven energy as the clean renewable energy alternatives that are also far cheaper and quicker to scale up. Other policies should include cutting all fossil fuel subsidies and massively increasing taxes on greenhouse gas emitting forms of energy use. Furthermore, there should be significant investment of public funds into research and development to improve and scale up clean energy technology; and tax breaks, subsidies, public procurement and a positive partnership between government and the private sector to boost clean energy production. The government should ensure renewable energy is generated in a local decentralised manner, so energy is immediately and locally available. They should also update all energy grids to become ‘smart grids’, so they use modern digital technology and real time information to predict and detect energy demands, and direct energy flows to the most needed areas when they are required, minimising wastage and maximising efficiency.
In other areas, the government should immediately ban the construction of new cars, trucks, lorries and trains which use fossil fuels, since electric alternatives are already available. They should also rapidly phase out the remaining fossil fuel cars, trucks, trains and lorries, whilst providing a heavily subsidised package to support any of the public still using petrol vehicles to upgrade to electric alternatives. Additional investment should be made in the national infrastructure to support these alternatives, such as the widespread availability of charge points for cars and wires and rails for electric trains. A national programme to completely convert existing building stock to use clean energy generated electricity for heating/hot water/cooking should be launched. Across all sectors the maximum possible energy efficiency and emissions standards should be applied to minimise waste, leakage and the amount of power used. These and other similar policies would enable the UK to hit that revised 2030 target. They would also create huge numbers of well paid, skilled green jobs and boost the national economy (4 Shifts Report, pg 102 – 112).
Such an approach sounds radical, but it is what the science says is desperately and rapidly needed if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Any delay only makes the cost in both human suffering and cash far greater. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain by acting rapidly now. The UK, and indeed every national economy, needs to be put on a war footing, to take radical and fast measures at scale in order to address the climate crisis with the level of urgency, speed and seriousness that is needed. This is totally possible. We have an excellent example from our very recent history. In 2020 in response to the Covid 19 pandemic, huge public and private funds were invested in vaccine development, enabling vaccines that would usually have taken years or even decades to develop, to be produced in a matter of months, and mass vaccination of the entire population to be rolled out. In addition rapid and radical policies like nation-wide lockdowns and mass testing were introduced. A huge furlough scheme protected jobs, businesses and the national economy. The army was called on for key roles. Whole new hospitals were built within weeks. Core workers were prioritised, protected and supported. And in the midst of all this, the nation came together in solidarity behind the government to respond to a national emergency. That is the kind of ambition and rapid action that we need in a UK net zero plan, rather than the somewhat lacklustre initiatives announced on Thursday. It is possible. We have done it before, and we can absolutely do it again.
Find out more
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[1] New net zero strategy won’t meet climate targets or cut energy bills, critics say, ITV News, (30 Mar 2023), https://www.itv.com/news/2023-03-30/ministers-unveil-plan-to-power-up-britain-with-boost-for-offshore-wind