With concerns that the UK risks not meeting the fifth and sixth
Carbon Budgets, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has today
set out how Parliamentary scrutiny can assist in identifying the
most appropriate ways to reduce emissions and meet future Carbon
Budgets.
In his Downing Street speech to journalists on 20th
September 2023, the Prime Minister criticised the lack of
parliamentary engagement in the formal legislative process to
establish previous Carbon Budgets. At present, the legally
binding target for emissions over a five-year period must be
legislated for before Ministers present a plan to Parliament
setting out the policies and measures to reduce emissions so as
to meet the target.
EAC has today written to the Secretary of State for Energy
Security and Net Zero to set out a process consistent with the
Prime Minister’s demand for greater parliamentary scrutiny of the
Government’s proposals to deliver future Carbon Budgets.
Among the recommendations, EAC has recommended that Parliamentary
committees are given the opportunity to scrutinise
recommendations made by the Climate Change Committee to
Government and Parliament, and proposals made by the Government
in a draft delivery plan. This scrutiny should take place before
a draft order to establish the Carbon Budget for 2038 to 2042 is
presented to Parliament for debate and formal approval by MPs and
peers. Through evidence gathering, EAC and other committees will
be able to ascertain whether the policies set out in the
Government’s draft delivery plan will be sufficient and possible
to achieve. The evidence, and the findings of relevant
committees, can then inform debates on the legislation during
which Ministers will be expected to set out – to Parliament and
to the public – the measures they believe are necessary to make
further progress toward net zero.
Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Rt Hon MP, said:
“Achieving net zero is an enormous undertaking that is already
driving change and transition in sectors throughout the economy.
While good progress has been made in meeting previous Carbon
Budgets, the Climate Change Committee has identified significant
risks to achieving the challenging targets set by Parliament
under the Fifth and Sixth Carbon Budgets.
“In his September 2023 speech on net zero, the Prime Minister
made the fair point that opportunities for Parliamentary scrutiny
of proposals to deliver previous Carbon Budgets had been very
limited. The Government is not required to explain to Parliament
how it proposes to meet Carbon Budget targets until after the
legislation setting the targets has been passed.
“This ought to change. Retrospective scrutiny once the Carbon
Budget and the delivery plan are official policy puts us all on
the back foot. MPs should have the opportunity to scrutinise
robustly the policy proposals put forward to meet the
Government’s climate goals, and to examine whether the level the
Carbon Budget has been set at is achievable while maintaining
public support for decarbonisation. When planning to achieve net
zero Britain, Ministers, parliamentarians and officials should be
subject to proper scrutiny.”
