• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • SDG Hub
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Finance

      This exclusive half day online event will investigate how all businesses can support and accelerate the transition to low and net zero carbon buildings, while maximising the financial and productivity opportunities that will result.

      • Date: 16 Mar 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 29 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • SDG Hub
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • Carbon offset markets
  • Green aviation
  • Deforestation
  • Net Zero Finance
Blog post ribbon image
  • Politics

Brexit and the Climate Emergency Committee

 Brexit and the Climate Emergency Committee
  • James Murray
  • James Murray
  • @James_BG
  • 18 October 2019
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Amidst yesterday's latest round of Brexit chaos and division there was an unexpected but hugely important silver lining to be found

It would be easy to write today on Brexit, but ultimately it would amount to yet more speculation about speculation, an attempt to ascribe certainty where no such thing exists.

We do not yet know if Boris Johnson's reheated and weakened version of Theresa May's deal can pass through the Commons, nor whether such passage might yet rest on amendments that allow for a second referendum. We do not know what will happen if the deal joins May's version on the scrapheap of history. We do not know how the critical trade deal negotiations will pan out during the next phase of the rolling Brexit saga if the deal scrapes over the line. And we do not know what result a second referendum or election designed to break any deadlock would bring - although we can say with confidence any such campaign would be brutishly ugly and may still struggle to end the current political chaos.

From a green economy perspective, we do not know whether this deal opens the door to environmental deregulation and a pollutocrats' charter, or lights the path to a trade deal where the EU's far superior negotiating leverage and the government's stated commitment to the environment ensures the UK can only ever exceed European green rules.

Related articles

  • Shambles squared
  • Pricing the priceless
  • Brighter times ahead
  • Presidential possibilities

The reason so many green commentators are so wary of the proposed deal is that by moving 'level playing field' protections into the non-binding Political Declaration the government has - for all its protestations to the contrary - left open the possibility of the UK rejecting an EU trade deal and embracing a Trumpist 'race to the bottom' on regulations, standards, and a lot more besides.

Amidst all this uncertainty, the one thing we do know is that it is, to quote Green Alliance's Dustin Benton, "desperately sad" that the British government feels it cannot at this stage accede to a legal requirement to maintain environmental protections it keeps insisting it wants to keep.

To sum it up, the government has taken back control by deferring the question of where control rests. It has scrapped the backstop by making the backstop permanent. It has promised to maintain strong environmental standards while legally crossing its fingers. Up is down and down is up. We have always been at war with Eastasia. It is, as ever, a mess.

However, something else happened yesterday in Westminster. Something good and important and hugely beneficial to the UK economy, which has been more than a little overshadowed by the latest Brexit drama.

The government confirmed it is to form a new Cabinet-level Committee on climate change and it will be chaired by the Prime Minister. It may sound like a dry, inside the beltway, process story, but in reality it is the biggest step forward for the net zero transition since the target passed into law this summer.

The old business adage beloved of companies trying to sell you analytics software is that 'you can't manage what you don't measure', but there is a simpler construction that is an even more clear-cut truism: you can't manage what you don't manage.

For too long, climate action has not been managed at the very top of government. It may be the biggest long term challenge and opportunity facing the global economy, but Prime Ministers and Presidents have tended to delegate the issue to junior ministers, dipping into the topic on the rare occasions public attention demands it. Consequently, progress has been remarkably piecemeal, even in those countries like the UK that boast legally binding emissions goals.

The formalised engagement of the Prime Minister should change the equation. It keeps feet to the fire and ensures all departments have to deliver meaningful progress. It focuses minds and forces top level politicians to engage with the political and technical challenges presented by decarbonisation. In short, it says 'this is a priority' - a fact that was intriguingly hammered home this morning in Boris Johnson's Tweet announcing the Brexit deal in which the environment was included in his list of four issues the government would now be able to focus on.

Inevitably, there are still lots of ways in which the government's new net zero governance plans could go awry.

It should be noted that Number 10 has not confirmed how often the committee will meet - it should be at least monthly - and nor has it said who will attend - at a minimum the PM has to be joined by the Chancellor, the Secretary to the Treasury, Foreign Secretary, the Business Secretary, Transport Secretary, Environment Secretary, Housing Secretary, Trade Secretary, Cabinet Secretary and relevant junior ministers.

Moreover, Whitehall is a veritable elephants' graveyard of committees and sub committees and working groups that were briefly in vogue before those in charge lost interest. An election dominated by a resurgent Brexit Party, an escalation of the culture war with Extinction Rebellion (not helped by this week's ill-judged disruption of public transport), a post-Brexit recession, all could result in the Prime Minister's attention wavering. 

But done right, the new committee has the potential to deliver a significant step change in the UK's decarbonisation efforts, regardless of whether it is Johnson or his successor who ends up chairing it in the coming years.

What does 'done right' look like? I've long argued for a COBRA-style committee on climate action and this committee could deliver precisely that. It should be colloquially, and indeed actually, described to as the 'Climate Emergency Committee' and the PM should invite expert witnesses to brief Ministers on a regular basis. Following every meeting Number 10 should be at pains to brief the press, MPs, and the public on progress and the issues that were debated. Top priorities should include ensuring the COP26 Summit has proper resourcing and direction right from the top and delivering the newly promised net zero 'pathway' as soon as possible.

Crucially, it should provide a model for businesses and other governments to follow, actively demonstrating what can be achieved when climate action is treated as an organisational priority.

Most of all though the committee should be a mechanism for ensuring decarbonisation trajectories are on track, new policies are developed, and public awareness of the critical importance of climate action is increased.

Taken in conjunction with yesterday's confirmation the Committee on Climate Change is to provide guidance on the sixth carbon budget next September and yesterday's announcements that the government intends to deliver a raft of new net zero compatible policies over the next 12 months, the announcement of the new committee provides businesses and investors with yet more evidence the government is going to beef up its decarbonisation efforts. It promises to deliver leadership, certainty, and progress. Or to put it another way, it is the very antithesis of the never-ending Brexit quagmire.

A version of this article originally appeared in the BusinessGreen Overnight Briefing email, which is available to all BusinessGreen subscribers.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Politics
  • Policy
  • Boris Johnson
  • Net Zero Now
  • Brexit
  • Green Brexit

More on Politics

Green Home Grants scheme has been beset by administrative problems since its launch in summer 2020
    • Buildings
'Now is the time to invest': Top business groups warn against cutting Green Homes Grant Scheme
    • Buildings
    • 22 February 2021
    • Policy
'Build back better': G7 pledges to put climate action at heart of global recovery
    • Policy
    • 19 February 2021
    • Management
Global Briefing: US officially rejoins Paris Agreement
    • Management
    • 19 February 2021
    • Policy
Government hymns ARIA's potential to boost net zero transition
    • Policy
    • 19 February 2021
    • Investment
TCFD ASAP: Inside the fast-evolving world of TCFD reporting
    • Investment
    • 19 February 2021
Both The Sun and the Daily Express have launched new green campaigns in recent weeks
    • Politics
Britain's right-wing tabloids have turned to 'green nationalism' to sell climate action
    • Politics
    • 19 February 2021
    • Buildings
Labour slams 'shambolic delivery' of Green Homes Grants, as reports suggest scheme could be axed
    • Buildings
    • 19 February 2021
Green Home Grants scheme has been beset by administrative problems since its launch in 2020
    • Buildings
'Matter of urgency': Industry groups urge Ministers to 'fix' Green Homes Grant Scheme
    • Buildings
    • 18 February 2021

More news

'Now is the time to invest': Top business groups warn against cutting Green Homes Grant Scheme
  • Buildings
'Now is the time to invest': Top business groups warn against cutting Green Homes Grant Scheme

More than 25 businesses and organisations join chorus of calls for government to give long-term backing to beleaguered home retrofit voucher programme

  • 22 February 2021
'From laggard to leader': Trinity College Cambridge to ditch fossil fuel investments in net zero drive
  • Investment
'From laggard to leader': Trinity College Cambridge to ditch fossil fuel investments in net zero drive

University of Cambridge college outlines net zero plan to ditch millions of pounds of direct and indirect investments in oil and gas

  • 22 February 2021
Mitie sets sights on net zero supply chain by 2035
  • Supply chain
Mitie sets sights on net zero supply chain by 2035

Energy services firm unveils clutch of 2021 climate goals and promises to set science-based target to reduce its Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions to net zero

  • 22 February 2021
EDF Rewewables to begin construction of 30MW North Lanarkshire onshore wind farm
  • Wind
EDF Rewewables to begin construction of 30MW North Lanarkshire onshore wind farm

Advances in turbine technology have allowed EDF Renewables to reduce the number of wind turbines required for the West Benhar project, it said

  • 22 February 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Online supermarket Ocado launches dedicated 'aisle' for B-Corp brands
Online supermarket Ocado launches dedicated 'aisle' for B-Corp brands
Bulb co-founder steps down to focus on battery storage venture
Bulb co-founder steps down to focus on battery storage venture
Judge overturns approval for 1.8GW Norfolk Vanguard project
Judge overturns approval for 1.8GW Norfolk Vanguard project
HSBC, Barclays, NatWest join Prince of Wales' net zero banking task force
HSBC, Barclays, NatWest join Prince of Wales' net zero banking task force
BP and Chevron back geothermal pioneer Eavor Technologies in $40m funding round
BP and Chevron back geothermal pioneer Eavor Technologies in $40m funding round
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading