Updated: MPs accuse government of "falling down" on carbon budgets

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) will today release a damning report on the government's low-carbon strategy, warning that the UK is falling well short of the scale of emission cuts that are required, and recommending that the government effectively ban the development of carbon-intensive infrastructure.

The report will warn that while cuts in UK emissions will be "rendered meaningless" without an international deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Britain could play a greater role in delivering that agreement if it adopted more ambitious domestic emission targets.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, committee chairman Tim Yeo MP said the UK was struggling to deliver the scale of emission cuts that are necessary if it is to meet the requirement set out in the first three carbon budgets to cut emissions by 34 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020.

"The report makes clear that the present rate of emission reduction is nowhere near high enough to hit even the 34 per cent target for 2020, let alone the more ambitious 42 per cent target that the committee would like to see adopted," he said. "Britain really needs to raise its game. We have an opportunity to take a leadership role, and our influence on the wider world will be much greater if we show more ambition."

The UK is currently on track to meet its first five-year budget period, but the committee concluded that it would only be met as a result of the impact of the recession on industrial greenhouse gas emissions, adding that new policy measures are urgently required if the UK is to deliver the two to three per cent cut in emissions each year that the budgets demand. It also argued that while the government maintains that the budgets would be met, ministers have a track record of being too "optimistic" when projecting how much carbon their policies will cut.

Whitehall insiders said that the UK remained on track to hit all of its first three carbon budgets, adding that last month's Pre-Budget report had already confirmed that the government would not rely on emission reductions that result from the recession, and would not carry forward any over-achievement against the first budget that results from the downturn.

The report will also recommend that once the government has demonstrated that it is on track to meet the existing budgets, it should upgrade its emission reduction target for 2020 to 42 per cent, bringing the UK into line with emission cuts recommended by climate scientists, regardless of whether or not the EU raises its overall target from 20 to 30 per cent.

Yeo said that acting unilaterally to deliver deeper cuts in emissions would not only increase the likelihood of an international climate change deal being agreed, but would improve the UK's long-term economic competitiveness.

"When the world wakes up and realises we need to move globally to a low-carbon economy, those countries that have moved first will not only have enjoyed environmental benefits, they will also have an economic advantage," he predicted, adding that commitments to curb emissions from the likes of China suggest that an international breakthrough will be made in the coming decade. " At that point… those countries that moved first will have the low-carbon transport infrastructure and energy supplies and will be laughing."

Overall, the report will call on the government to give far higher priority to efforts to cut carbon emissions, recommending that it ensure that carbon budgets receive the "same level of political attention, civil service commitment and parliamentary scrutiny" as the fiscal budget.

In particular, it will recommend that the government start putting in place contingency plans to reduce emissions further and faster if new scientific developments warn that deeper cuts are required, and introduce a regulatory framework that ensures "we do not wrongly invest in high-carbon infrastructure" .

Yeo confirms that this framework should include an effective ban on high-carbon developments such as new coal-fired power plants that fail to incorporate carbon capture and storage technologies. "High-emission coal-fired electricity generation should be banned," he told BusinessGreen.com, adding that the carbon price delivered through the EU emissions trading scheme was not high enough to discourage investment in coal plants and as a result the government should regulate to address the issue.

Senior civil servants said that under the Clean Coal Framework, steps are under way to effectively ban the development of new coal-fired power plants that do not include carbon capture and storage systems.

Energy and Climate Change Minister, Joan Ruddock, also argued that the government was already acting to address many of the areas of concern the Committee raised.

"We've already cut the UK's emissions by nearly double the Kyoto target and are on track to meet the first three carbon budgets," she said. "It's right that we strengthen and sustain these efforts and we've a detailed plan to make that happen, which includes a world-leading policy on clean coal, plans for new nuclear, a massive increase in offshore wind plus a wide range of help for people to save energy in their homes."

The EAC report was welcomed by Friends of the Earth's economy campaigner Simon Bullock, who echoed the committee's call for the government to adopt more ambitious short-term emission targets.

"The government's current climate plans are based on only a 50:50 chance of avoiding a two-degree rise in temperature, a danger level that world leaders say we must avoid," he said. "No one would accept a toss-of-a-coin chance of their house burning down or of there being a major terrorist attack – we must not take such huge risks with climate change either."