The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is calling for the UK government to accelerate its climate ambitions following Cop28.
The environmental advisory board said in its latest report that the UK needs to support the Cop28 global goals to triple renewable capacity and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
The CCC also said the government needs to support the acceleration of the global transition away from fossil fuels.
Following the UK’s recent environmental policy of boosting North Sea fossil fuel production, the CCC also said the UK’s climate ambition has “suffered from mixed messages” at Cop28.
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Interim chair Professor Piers Forster said that while the UK government “played an important role” in the “hard-fought Cop28 outcome”, policymakers need to now “push even harder”.
“We must rapidly replace fossil fuels with low-carbon alternatives to get back on track to meet our 2030 goal,” Forster said.
“The UK could set a powerful example of tackling climate change and reducing our insecurity to climate impacts. The new global adaptation framework goes further than our own so I urge the government to lean into its global role with an even stronger demonstration of domestic ambition.”
Greenpeace UK head of politics Rebecca Newsom said: “The government must immediately end new oil and gas production and tax fossil fuel companies more to generate new public finance for climate action both at home and abroad. Only then can the UK begin to credibly claim it is a global climate leader.”
