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The UK government must speed up action on climate change to meet the goals it set during the COP28 conference, a climate watchdog has warned.
For the first time, representatives of nearly 200 countries attending COP28 agreed to “transition away” from fossil fuels as part of efforts to reach zero emissions globally by 2050.
The commitment also included pledges to triple renewable energy capacity globally and accelerate zero and low-emission technologies – including renewables, nuclear and carbon removal.
But the Climate Change Committee (CCC) said the international perception of the UK’s climate ambition suffered from mixed messages following the conference, including announcements on new fossil fuel developments and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s U-turns on a raft of net zero policies.
It also found that there was a “significant gap” between the UK’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) of reducing emissions by 68% by 2030 and the policies currently implemented. The agreements made at COP28 would require more effort domestically to meet the ambitions.
Achieving the 2030 NDC will require the rate of emission reductions outside of the electricity sector to quadruple from that of recent years, the CCC said while urging the government to maintain a “continued visible presence” at future COPs and ramp up climate ambitions to reinforce the UK’s international standing.
Piers Forster, interim chair of the CCC, said: “The UK played an important role in this hard-fought COP28 outcome. We may be further into the decarbonisation journey than many nations, but the obligation on every country is now to push even harder. This also frames the economic challenge for the UK. We must rapidly replace fossil fuels with low-carbon alternatives to get back on track to meet our 2030 goal.
“The UK could set a powerful example of tackling climate change and reducing our insecurity to climate impacts. The new global adaptation framework goes further than our own, so I urge the government to lean into its global role with an even stronger demonstration of domestic ambition.”
The CCC found that the new Framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation goes beyond the UK’s current National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) and urged the government to update NAP3 in the near future to fulfil the targets within the framework.
