Lords letter criticises delivery of climate change policy

Government departments are not doing enough or prepared enough to meet Britain’s targets to combat climate change and deliver a successful COP26, a House of Lords committee has warned.

The Environment and Climate Change Committee, chaired by Baroness Parminter, wrote to Alok Sharma MP, COP26 president, to express concerns about the government’s climate change decision-making process and how departments are held to account for developing credible green policies.

The committee says that not all departments are as yet sufficiently embedding climate change into their policy-making processes and it is unclear how the centre of government is firmly holding departments to account on related policies. The letter reads:

“On that basis it is hard to conclude – despite heroic efforts from some individuals – that the delivery of COP26 across government will be equal to the scale of the challenge.”

The committee also questioned whether there are enough staff with the necessary expertise devoted to climate change across government. The letter points out that such skills will be increasingly important in developing new and existing policies aimed at reducing emissions.

Special disappointment was reserved for the efforts of the Education and International Trade departments as well as the renamed Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

It is “probable”, says the committee, that COP26 will fail to secure commitments needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C and that there is “a lack of clarity on what will be considered the minimum benchmarks for success at the event.”

Baroness Parminter said: “The climate change emergency is one of the greatest challenges of our time and COP26 is the biggest political event that Britain has ever hosted, so we would have expected clear leadership from the top and effective processes in place to coordinate action across departments.

“The absence of an effective climate change machinery across government has hindered preparation for COP26 and limited wider progress. Not all departments are embedding climate change sufficiently into their policy-making and it is unclear how the centre of government is holding departments to account firmly.”

The committee also wants ministers to address climate change and biodiversity loss at the same time. Baroness Parminter added:  “It’s essential that tackling climate change and restoring nature are done together. We are concerned that the government may not be seeking to maximise the links between the two.”

The full letter of the Environment and Climate Change Committee can be read here:  https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7700/documents/80428/default/