Forty-Sixth Report - Achieving Net Zero

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 935 5 March 2021

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 23 items (9 recs)

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Government Response (AI assessment · 21 of 23 classified)

Accepted 13

Acknowledged 6

Not Addressed 2

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-sixth report from Session 2019-21 · published 31 Aug 2021

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Recommendations & Conclusions

13 results

2 Recommendation Accepted

The Department is not yet reporting on the programmes across government that are crucial to...

Recommendation

The Department is not yet reporting on the programmes across government that are crucial to the delivery of net zero in a way that enables Parliament or the public to scrutinise progress. In early 2019, government established new arrangements for … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees and will set out in more detail the metrics it will track towards net zero as part of its comprehensive Net Zero Strategy by Winter 2021, building on existing annual projections.

HM Treasury

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4 Recommendation Accepted

Government does not have a clear way of determining whether its actions to reduce emissions...

Recommendation

Government does not have a clear way of determining whether its actions to reduce emissions in the UK are transferring emissions to other countries. The net zero target applies to emissions generated within the UK and does not include emissions … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government accepts the recommendation and commits to a cross-government work programme on carbon leakage, further analysis in the Net Zero Review, a review of the UK ETS, and developing proposals for embodied emissions data transparency with a future call for evidence.

HM Treasury

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5 Recommendation Accepted

Government has not adequately communicated to the general public the changes that individuals will need...

Recommendation

Government has not adequately communicated to the general public the changes that individuals will need to make in the transition to net zero emissions. Achieving Net Zero 7 Achieving net zero will depend on individuals choosing to change their behaviour, … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees and plans to set out more detail on its approach to public engagement on net zero, including communication coordination, as part of the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy by Autumn 2021.

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6 Recommendation Accepted

The Department has not sufficiently engaged with local authorities on their role in the achievement...

Recommendation

The Department has not sufficiently engaged with local authorities on their role in the achievement of net zero across the UK. Local authorities have significant scope to influence emissions in their area, both by leading decarbonisation of sectors (such as … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees and will provide a clearer statement of national, regional, and local responsibilities and how it will work with local authorities to deliver Net Zero, as part of the Net Zero Strategy by Autumn 2021.

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7 Conclusion Accepted

The government originally planned to publish many of its strategies during 2020.

Conclusion

The government originally planned to publish many of its strategies during 2020. Publication was later than it previously intended, partly because of reprioritisation of Government activity in response to the coronavirus crisis.9 For example, the publication of the Heat and … Read more The government originally planned to publish many of its strategies during 2020. Publication was later than it previously intended, partly because of reprioritisation of Government activity in response to the coronavirus crisis.9 For example, the publication of the Heat and Buildings strategy was delayed from August 2020 and is yet to be published. Publication of the Fuel Poverty strategy was similarly delayed from April 2020 and did not publish until to February 2021.10 The Department told us that it would like to have published many of the sector strategies months earlier than they were likely to be published. It asserted that it was now in a good place to publish them and expected the strategies to be stronger as a result of the delay and would reflect a greater degree of political commitment. It accepted that the strategies would need to be clear, and provide detail, about the policies, timing and process that underpinned them. It told us that this particularly applied for high-emitting sectors including buildings, transport and industry. We asked the Department when the strategies were now due to be published and to provide a publication programme for the next 12 months. The Department would not provide details of the months that it planned to publish the individual strategies, asserting that it would ‘put them out at the right time, when they are ready’. It told us it expected the Heat and Building strategy and the fuel poverty strategy very soon, followed by the industrial decarbonisation, hydrogen and transport strategies. It expected to publish the 5 Q 8; C&AG’s Report, para 1, 1-2-1.4 6 Q 6; GOV.UK, Press release, UK sets ambitious new climate target head of UN Summit, 3 December 2020 7 Q 7; C&AG’s Report, para 1.10; Climate Change Committee, The Sixth Carbon Budget, The UK’s path to net zero, December 2020, page 13 8 Qq 6-8; C&AG’s Report, paras 6-7, 3.26 9 Q 18; C&AG’s Report, para 3.2, Figure 9 10 C&AG’s Report, Figure 9; Department for Business, Energy Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees, stating it is making progress on sector strategies and will publish a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy, bringing all plans together, ahead of COP26 in Autumn 2021.

HM Treasury

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12 Conclusion Accepted

The Treasury’s Green Book guidance requires all policy, programme and project proposals to consider environment...

Conclusion

The Treasury’s Green Book guidance requires all policy, programme and project proposals to consider environment and climate impacts, including UK greenhouse gas emissions. The Department noted that this was another means by which the compatibility of departments’ decisions with net … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees, noting that Spending Review 2020 guidance required departments to include greenhouse gas emissions in bids, and HMT is reviewing this learning, keeping these issues as a priority for 2021.

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15 Conclusion Accepted

Limiting global temperature rises to reduce the climate change impacts will require a global reduction...

Conclusion

Limiting global temperature rises to reduce the climate change impacts will require a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The net zero target applies to emissions generated in the UK and does not include emissions generated in the production of … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the implied recommendation on carbon leakage, stating it is jointly leading a cross-government work programme, developing an analytical framework, and will explore opportunities to provide more transparency on imported emissions by Winter 2021, with further proposals and a call for evidence planned for 2021-22.

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16 Recommendation Accepted

We asked how the Department would ensure that the impact of the UK’s progress towards...

Recommendation

We asked how the Department would ensure that the impact of the UK’s progress towards net zero would not inadvertently result in higher emissions elsewhere. The 23 Q 45 24 Q 62 25 Q 54; C&AG’s Report, para 2.13 26 … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation and is leading a cross-government work programme with HMT to develop an analytical framework and assess mitigation measures for carbon leakage. It will also explore opportunities to improve transparency of imported emissions data and develop proposals for product standards and embodied emissions data transparency, with a call for evidence planned.

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17 Conclusion Accepted

We asked about the feasibility of a tax based on carbon embedded in imports (a...

Conclusion

We asked about the feasibility of a tax based on carbon embedded in imports (a carbon border adjustment tax) to reduce the risk of pushing emissions abroad. The Treasury told us that it was considering this as part of its … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the implied recommendation to address carbon leakage, stating it is jointly leading a work programme with HMT, developing an analytical framework, and will explore opportunities for greater transparency, with further proposals and a call for evidence planned for 2021-22.

HM Treasury

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18 Conclusion Accepted

Achieving net zero will depend on people changing their habits and lifestyles, adopting new technologies,...

Conclusion

Achieving net zero will depend on people changing their habits and lifestyles, adopting new technologies, and in some cases big personal investments. For example, buying zero- emission vehicles, such as electric vehicles, instead of cars that run on petrol or … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation to develop a public engagement strategy within the next 12 months, stating it plans to set out more detail on its approach, including coordinated communications, as part of the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy by Autumn 2021.

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19 Recommendation Accepted

We asked the Department what it was doing to ensure the step change needed by...

Recommendation

We asked the Department what it was doing to ensure the step change needed by members of the public to achieve net zero and how it was communicating to people about the decisions or changes they needed to make and … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation and plans to develop a public engagement strategy that coordinates communications, with a target implementation date of Autumn 2021, and will set out more detail as part of the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy.

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21 Recommendation Accepted

Local authorities have a key role to play in achieving net zero.

Recommendation

Local authorities have a key role to play in achieving net zero. They have significant scope to influence emissions in their area, for example, by leading decarbonisation of sectors such as housing and transport. These represent a substantial proportion of … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government accepts the recommendation, agreeing there should be a clearer statement of national, regional, and local responsibilities and how it will work with local authorities, to be provided in the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy.

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22 Recommendation Accepted

In written evidence, the LGA told us that there was a long-term funding gap in...

Recommendation

In written evidence, the LGA told us that there was a long-term funding gap in government’s ambitions to decarbonise housing. In February 2020, the LGA’s Climate Change Survey 2020 found that nine out of 10 councils had declared a climate … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the recommendation and will provide a more comprehensive statement on national, regional, and local responsibilities, and how it proposes to work with local authorities to deliver Net Zero, as part of the forthcoming Net Zero Strategy by Autumn 2021.

HM Treasury

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