Boris to chair committee setting sixth carbon budget

Boris Johnson will help to shape the next phase of the UK’s emission reduction plan, a BEIS civil servant has revealed.

Sarah Bishop, deputy director of net zero and carbon budgets at the department for business, energy and industrial strategy, told a conference yesterday (12 May) that the cabinet climate change committee will play a role in drawing up the sixth carbon budget that will set out the UK’s proposed emissions reductions for the period 2033 to 2037.

Delivering the closing presentation at Westminster Forum’s virtual net zero conference, she said: “We will be using the new cabinet committee that has been established and is chaired by the prime minister to facilitate the policy development process both for the fourth and fifth carbon budgets and setting the sixth carbon budget.”

The committee, which was set up ahead of last year’s election, is chaired by the prime minister and brings together senior ministers, reflecting the nature of the cross-Whitehall policy challenges thrown up by climate change.

The government is due to publish its sixth carbon budget, the first to be delivered since the UK’s adoption of the 2050 net zero emissions goal, by next June.

Bishop also said the government is considering how it can support the continued shift to home working seen across the UK during the pandemic, which has delivered knock-on benefits for the environment in terms of reduced emissions.

“That is all really positive from a climate perspective but clearly not a price that anyone thinks is worth paying,” she said, adding that measures to promote the net-zero agenda could also help to stimulate the economy post-pandemic.

“Many of the actions that we need to take can also support recovery from Covid – it’s not an either or.”

And Bishop insisted that the government is still working hard to ensure the delivery of a successful Cop26 Glasgow climate change summit, which has been delayed until next year due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.

“Teams in BEIS and across government are concerned to not lose momentum and looking to make the most of the additional time we have.”

Lord Deben, chair of the Committee on Climate Change, said that the history of pandemics shows that they often accelerate economic and social change, such as the transition to net zero.

“Things that were changing already change very much more quickly.

“People have experienced now what it’s like to have a place where they can breathe the air and hear the birds. That has made people think differently.

“People are ready for those changes and want quieter, cleaner lives.”

But that desire for change must be capitalised upon before there is a return to business as usual, he said: “Lockdown means people will be prepared to support real change but we need to move rapidly before they go back to their bad old ways.”