Net Zero is ‘a plan without answers to key questions’, say MPs

The government has no reliable estimate of what implementing its Net Zero Strategy is actually likely to cost British consumers, businesses and government itself, warn MPs.

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has released a report that analyses the roadmap to achieving net zero by 2050 and how this transition to a green economy will be funded. It concludes that without funding commensurate with stated outcomes, the government’s intentions are more aspirational than concrete.

Although the government committed in June 2019 to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it took more than two years to be enshrined in law.

Now the government has committed more than £25 billion up to 2024–25. However, its ability to track its performance against the 2050 target is hampered by vague performance measures, a lack of overall budget or plans to collate and report what it is spending, and limited assessment of the cost impact on consumers.

The committee noted that certainty for business and consumers is critical to the success of net-zero policies, but numerous stop-start strategies continue to undermine confidence needed to invest in carbon cutting measures, especially when some green alternatives are still significantly more expensive than current options.

The PAC report argues that success of the net zero strategy requires government, local government, regulators, businesses, and consumers to deliver its targets. The committee asserts that a top-down strategy from government won’t deliver on its own because of the risk that a series of disconnected initiatives announced by central government will not bring about the changes that are set out in law.

The committee concludes that government needs to monitor and report its progress including on how it will ensure consumer engagement and buy-in, and how it plans to ensure both the civil service and private sector are equipped with the technical skills to deliver government’s ambition.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Government is relying heavily on rapidly changing consumer behaviours and technological innovations to drive down the costs of green options, but it is not clear how it will support and encourage consumers to purchase greener products or incentivise businesses and drive change.

“Every government department has a responsibility for delivering policies towards the target of net zero but two years after enshrining the ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 target in law, the government has unveiled a plan without answers to the key questions of how it will fund the transition to net zero – including how it replace significant income from taxes such as fuel duty.”