The UK can continue to be a leader on climate change
4 min read
With strong support for net-zero among MPs and the public, the UK is poised to lead on climate action, says Alasdair Johnstone, a former senior strategy advisor for the Cabinet Office’s COP26 Unit. As the government returns from COP29, Britain’s long-standing climate policies and growing green economy reflect our global climate influence
Support for net-zero is strong among the new Commons contingent, with a recent poll of MPs finding that 94 per cent back the 2050 climate target.1 That is up slightly on the 76 per cent of MPs who backed the target before the election.
Broad public support for the target remains high at 74 per cent.2 The public also appears to like the new government’s clean energy policy blitz, with 60 per cent supporting the lifting of the moratorium on onshore wind and 74 per cent supporting moves to approve new solar farms.3
The Climate Change Act (CCA) has provided more than a decade of legislative stability to drive these kinds of policies forward. Its five-yearly ‘carbon budgets’ were specifically designed by politicians to avoid constantly ‘kicking the can down the road’. The CCA has been a very real British success story, and has been emulated around the world; now, 147 countries and 93 per cent of global GDP is covered by some kind of net-zero target.4
And, thanks in a large part to the CCA, the UK is potentially in a position to demonstrate how a major economy can decarbonise key sectors of its economy, if properly implemented. From the CCA to hosting COP26 and developing a world-leading offshore wind industry, the UK’s influence on climate change extends far beyond its domestic emissions.
UK climate leadership will again be in focus as government representatives return from COP29 in Baku, where delegates debated a new climate finance goal to succeed the $100bn annually committed by the world’s richest nations at Copenhagen in 2009. These funds support poorer countries in decarbonising and adapting to the impacts of climate breakdown, which they experience most acutely.
Analysis from More In Common found that 61 per cent of Britons support the principle of overseas development aid, while 56 per cent are concerned by food security as a threat to our wider security.5 However, support for the aid budget is also contingent on factors like reciprocity and the question of “What’s in it for us?”
Two-fifths of our food is imported, but increasing climate impacts are affecting harvests, leading to shortages and price rises.6 Climate impacts have increased average UK household food bills by £360 over the last two years. There is a connection here. International Climate Finance funds programmes that help farmers on the frontline of climate change adapt to the extremes of drought, heat and flooding they are increasingly facing. Many live in countries where our food is produced.
Beyond commitments to climate finance, the UK can also demonstrate leadership by expanding its green economy at home. The net-zero economy was worth £74bn to the UK last year, with 72 out of 81 UK companies having some kind of net-zero target.7 However, there is a risk of loss; a recent report suggested that the GVA of the UK automotive sector could decrease by 73 per cent, or £34.1bn, if investment in the transition to electric vehicles stalls. That is where the Chancellor’s announcement of £2bn for the UK’s automotive sector may be welcome.
The UK has, and can continue to have, an outsized impact on how the world addresses both the clear and present danger, and the economic opportunity, of climate change.
“The UK is potentially in a position to demonstrate how a major economy can decarobnise key sectors of its economy”
References
1. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (2024). Poll: New MPs ‘greener’, but wrong on EVs and home heating
2. Independent (2024). ‘Clear uptick’ in support for UK’s net-zero target, survey suggests
3. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (2024). Poll: Government’s clean energy ‘blitz’ meets with public support
4. Net Zero Tracker (2024). Data Explorer
5. More in Common (2024). Green and Global Britain
6. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (2024). Climate and food: home and away
7. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (2024). The UK’s net zero economy
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