Has Britain lost its climate crown?

Britain, which was quick to set ambitious climate goals, is now stumbling on the path to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and facing hurdles that could resonate with nations trying to balance their targets with politics and the cost of action.

After setting world-leading CO2-cutting targets into law in 2019, Britain has struggled to get on track to make them happen. Electric vehicle charging points are being installed slower than targeted, and despite early success in rolling out offshore wind, the government’s latest renewable energy auction awarded zero contracts to wind developers.

Analysts and politicians say that the British government’s move last week to delay targets for green vehicles and heating systems ahead of a looming election reflects a crunch point that other countries may face as they attempt to turn far-off climate goals into concrete measures - with costs for companies and consumers as soon as this decade.

"The UK has been one of the real leaders in climate diplomacy and in their own emissions reductions," Ireland’s climate minister Eamon Ryan told Reuters. "As a friend and a neighbour, I’d have to say some of that has been put at risk."

Britain, which hosted the United Nations annual climate conference COP26 in 2021, still leads the G7 when it comes to slashing output of climate-warming gases — reducing emissions by 49% between 1990 and 2022 with cutting down on coal the biggest driver.

But according to the Climate Change Committee’s June 2023 progress report to parliament, to hit mid-way climate targets, Britain must quadruple its annual emissions reductions outside the electricity supply sector by 2030.

The committee, an independent body set up under Britain's climate change law, had already said in 2022 that the country's strategy "will not deliver net zero".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week he remained committed to the legally binding target of reaching net zero by 2050 but said Britain could afford to make slower progress in getting there because it was "so far ahead of every other country in the world".

He said he was changing the policy because previous governments had moved too quickly to set net zero targets, without securing the support of the public.

Delaying net zero transition investments could prove politically popular, analysts observed, if an election was on the horizon.

But "this framing only works if you think climate policy is a burden", said Bob Ward, a climate policy researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science, adding that avoiding short-term costs was likely to lead to a greater bill for taxpayers down the road.

ROLLBACK OR REALITY?

Suank's own Conservatives defended his decision as advocating for consumers facing a cost of living crisis.

"It's right we tweak as, at the moment, these green policies and targets hurt those worse off," one conservative lawmaker told Reuters.

"Delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is disappointing, but reflects the reality that this is where most of the major car manufacturing nations are," said Britain's environmental audit committee chairman Philip Dunne.