Committee on Climate Change’s 2012 Progress Report

Last week the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published its 2012 Progress Report, which highlighted that just 0.8% of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in 2011 can be linked to carbon lowering measures. The report states that total emissions fell by 7% last year, however this reduction was predominantly caused by factors such as weather, rising fuel prices and falling incomes. Furthermore the CCC states that this underlying rate of progress is only a quarter of that required to meet future carbon budgets. “There are some good initiatives in the pipeline, but more is needed to improve the investment climate, and put in place incentives so that people and businesses can act,” said the CCC’s Chief Executive, David Kennedy. He continued, “investing in low carbon assets remains a priority – this will put us on the economically sensible path, and allow us to avoid higher costs and risks due to delayed action.”

According to the report, the lack of investment in renewable energy, poor energy efficiency in homes/workplaces and a carbon intensive transport sector are the main factors inhibiting emissions reductions. Nonetheless, in response to the government’s quarterly energy statistics (released last week), the Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP said “today’s statistics show a clear increase on the first quarter of last year across all renewables – with rises in wind, hydro, solar and bioenergy generation.”