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87 global businesses commit to UN emissions targets

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Eighty-seven major companies — with a combined market capitalisation of over US$2.3 trillion and annual direct emissions equivalent to 73 coal-fired power plants — are aligning their businesses with what scientists say is needed to limit the worst impacts of climate change.

Responding to a call-to-action issued in June by a group of business, civil society and UN leaders, the companies collectively represent over 4.2 million employees from 28 sectors and are headquartered in 27 countries.

They have committed to set climate targets across their operations and value chains aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.

Since the first 28 companies committed to 1.5°C were announced in July, the number has more than tripled. The latest cohort of companies include ADEC Innovations; América Móvil; ASICS Corporation; Atlassian Corporation; Bharti Airtel Limited; Burberry; City Developments Limited; The Co-operative Group; Croda International; Cybercom Group; Danone; Deutsche Telekom; Dexus; EDP – Energias de Portugal; Electrolux; Elopak; En+ Group; Ericsson Group; Firmenich; Glovo; Grupo Malwee; Guess; Ingka Group; Inter IKEA Group; International Flavors & Fragrances; Intuit; Klabin; L’Oréal; MARUI GROUP; Nestlé; Nokia; Novo Nordisk; NRG Energy; Orange Group; Ørsted; PensionDanmark; Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited; Saint-Gobain; Salesforce.com; Scania; Schneider Electric; Seventh Generation; SkyPower; Sodexo; SUEZ; Swiss Re; TDC; Viña Concha y Toro; and Wipro, among others.

The news comes as world leaders gather in New York for a milestone Climate Action Summit hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“It is encouraging to see many first-movers in the private sector align with civil society and ambitious Governments by stepping up in support of a 1.5°C future,” said Guterres. “Now we need many more companies to join the movement, sending a clear signal that markets are shifting.”

Demonstrating the private sector’s support for these efforts, companies are now leading the way in creating a positive feedback loop known as an “ambition loop” — with Government policies and private sector leadership reinforcing each other, and together taking climate action to the next level.

The companies are committed to setting science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which independently assesses corporate emissions reduction targets in line with what climate scientists say is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Of the 87 companies, the following already have verified 1.5°C-aligned reduction targets covering greenhouse gas emissions from their operations: AstraZeneca, BT, Burberry Limited, Deutsche Telekom AG, Dexus, Elopak, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intuit, Levi Strauss & Co., SAP, Schneider Electric, Signify, Sodexo, The Co-operative Group and Unilever.

All campaign signatories have taken this ambition a step further by extending their commitments to apply to their entire value chains, which on average account for 5.5 times higher emissions than operations.

The latest companies announced today as part of the “Business Ambition for 1.5°C — Our Only Future” campaign join an earlier group of 28 companies announced in July, including Acciona; AstraZeneca; Banka BioLoo; BT; Dalmia Cement Ltd.; Enel; Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Iberdrola; KLP; Levi Strauss & Co.; Mahindra Group; Natura &Co; Novozymes; Royal DSM; SAP; Signify; Singtel; Telefonica; Telia; Unilever; Vodafone Group and Zurich Insurance, among others.

IN FOCUS: UK carbon emissions and key legislation changes

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With environmental concerns continuing to hit headlines, governments across the globe are taking initiatives to help alleviate the situation.

The UK, in particular, has taken steps forward in recent years, and legislation continues to evolve to support emissions reduction in line with international targets.

From the way we work, to the transport we use, the impact of climate change affects every part of our day-to-day lives – so it’s important we understand the policy changes that are being made to safeguard our environment. 

Net Zero Now 

From June 2019 this year, the government’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions and achieve ‘net zero’ status by 2050 was officially signed into law. This makes the UK the first major economy to legislate to end its contribution to global warming.[1] This latest move is a more ambitious plan than the country’s previous target of an 80% emissions reduction by 2050, taking it one step further – cutting emissions to as close to zero as possible in the same time period.

Head of Corporate Affairs and Innovation at Flogas, David Taylor, said: “With so many premises still relying on high-carbon traditional off-grid fuels like oil – and heating making such a major contribution to current emissions levels – the transition to lower-carbon alternatives is long overdue. LPG is the cleanest, most efficient and effective conventional off-grid fuel, so it is uniquely placed to help reduce emissions immediately.

“Building on this, we see biopropane (or BioLPG) as a hugely significant part of the UK’s renewable future. Produced using biological sources(such as waste, sewage and energy crops), bioLPG is chemically-identical to LPG.

This means it can be simply ‘dropped in’ to the UK’s existing, comprehensive LPG network – so it will become increasingly important as we strive to meet the UK’s new 2050 net zero deadline.”

The Clean Growth Strategy

Another key part of the UK’s move towards a carbon-neutral future is the government’s Clean Growth Strategy – a plan brought into place to help accelerate the pace of ‘clean growth’ by decreasing emissions whilst simultaneously increasing economic growth.

Most notably, the Strategy aims to reduce carbon emissions in the six areas that together make up 100% of the UK’s emissions.[2] These are:

  • Improving business and industry efficiency (25% of UK emissions)
  • Improving efficiency within our homes (13% of UK emissions)
  • Increasing the shift to low-carbon transport (24% of UK emissions)
  • Delivering clean, smart, flexible power (21% of UK emissions)
  • Enhancing the benefits and value of our natural resources (15% of UK emissions)
  • Leading the public sector (2% of UK emissions)

To turn this vision into a reality, the government has pledged to roll out lower-carbon processes, systems and technologies nationwide – doing so in the most cost-effective way possible for businesses and homes alike.

Road to Zero Strategy

Introduced in July 2018, the Road to Zero strategy outlines the government’s plans on how it intends to slash road transport emissions and build a greener infrastructure. Part of this plan will be encouraging the uptake of zero-emission cars, vans and trucks, as part of the government’s mission to tackle air pollution and deliver cleaner air across the country. Changes such as putting a stop to the sale of conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040 is one of the most significant ways in which it intends to deliver this plan.[3]

In fact, the UK government is aiming for at least 50% (and as many as 70%) of new car registrations to be ultra-low emission by 2030, with a target for 40% for new vans.[4] What this means for the UK is that we’ll begin to see a huge rise in electric charging points as the government throws it weight behind the adoption of electric vehicles (EV).

Unfortunately, whilst the government remains steadfast in its aim to reduce carbon emissions, there have been some delays introducing Clean Air Zones (CAZs) into various UK cities. Most recently, Leeds and Birmingham have experienced delays with their digital vehicle checking tools, which allow drivers to check the type of emissions their cars produce. Delays to the introduction of this software are likely to push back their plans to introduce Clean Air Zones.[5]

The Paris Agreement 

Representing a huge step forward in the united fight against climate change, The Paris Agreement was the original catalyst for many of these recent legislation changes. It saw more than 200 countries take part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, resulting in an agreement that strengthened action for a more sustainable, low carbon future.

Essentially, all parties involved in The Paris Agreement (including the UK) have committed to limit temperature rises by no more than 2°C above pre-industrial times and, if possible, limit this further to 1.5°C.[6]

A regular five-year review will also take place to monitor progress as well as increased funding to developing countries to help keep them in line with similar national targets.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-becomes-first-major-economy-to-pass-net-zero-emissions-law

[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-growth-strategy/clean-growth-strategy-executive-summary

[3]https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/69795/low-emission-road-zero-strategy/

[4]https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2018/07/09/government-launches-road-to-zero-strategy

[5]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48679008

[6]https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement

Sustainability pays: how to take care of the planet and your profits

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Being good to the environment is great for your business finances.

Taking control of your own energy needs – using onsite generation and storage – can reduce costs and cut carbon emissions. It will also protect your business from energy supply disruption.

Download our research report to discover the 4 steps you can take to accelerate your energy sustainability and improve your profits.

Sustainability: The advantages of using smart technologies in commercial buildings

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By Frankie Byron, Sustainability Surveyor at Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH)

As the UK Government pledges to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the urge for sustainable buildings is stronger than ever.

According to the UK Green Building Council, an estimated 40% of the UK’s carbon footprint is attributed to the built environment, half of which comes from energy used in building. Heating alone created 10% of the country’s carbon footprint. 

Yet sustainability is still out of reach for many property owners and managers. Old buildings, small budgets, tenants’ varying needs – there are many factors that make it hard for a property manager to truly measure the sustainability of a building and to act upon any findings.

Considering this, Frankie Bryon, Sustainability Surveyor at LSH discusses why smart technology can help buildings improve on sustainability as well introduce other benefits that include promoting health and wellbeing and enable agile working…

Smart is sustainable
Firms’ sustainability strategies have been a major driver of the rollout of smart technology. By providing more efficient controls over energy usage, it can deliver significant reductions in energy consumption.

It is no coincidence that some of the smartest office buildings in the world are also rated by BREEAM as among the greenest. Smart systems allow lighting, heating, air conditioning and ventilation to be monitored and adjusted according to a building’s usage and occupation. Energy wastage can be minimised by turning off heating and lighting when an office is unoccupied. Intelligent building facades may also be used to control the heat and light entering the building in response to changing weather conditions.

The next generation of energy efficient smart buildings have their own sources of power generation and some are even able to generate more energy than they consume, with surplus energy going back to the grid.

Workplace wellbeing
Smart technology is increasingly recognised as having an important role to play in promoting health and wellbeing. It can help to create environments that support alert, energised workforce. 

Sensors can monitor air and water quality, light, temperature and noise levels. Issues known to affect workers’ concentration levels such as poor air quality or a lack of natural light can thus be detected and fixed.

More advanced smart office technology can also make use of data from wearable biometric devices monitoring the health and comfort of workers. In fact, research by Instant Offices shows 45% of the UK workforce would feel comfortable with sharing information via wearable devices for the purpose of protecting their health and wellbeing. 

Ambient conditions can be adjusted when workers show signs of discomfort, or an individual’s immediate working environment can be changed according to their personal preferences.

Work smarter
Sensors, smartphones or wearable devices may collect data monitoring environmental factors such as temperature, light, air quality and noise, as well as data on employees’ usage of the building.

The data collected can deliver building managers with actionable insights on how to improve a building’s performance, or it may feed through to automated systems controlling the office environment. With smart technology continually evolving, it is being used to support an increasingly wide range of applications, providing multiple benefits to building owners, investors, occupiers and employees.

Enabling agile working
Smart technology is providing occupiers with a better understanding of who uses the office at any given time, how they work and with whom they collaborate. These insights can enable increasingly agile, flexible working.

Some of the newest generation of smart buildings have fewer desks than workers. Instead, employees may reserve a workspace using an app, with a choice of spaces depending on whether they would prefer a collaborative workspace, private meeting area or a quiet space.

Smart systems may thus facilitate a move away from the convention of employees ‘owning’ a desk, which then goes unused for periods when they are out of the office. Flexible workspaces can be used more efficiently and may be continually adapted to changing employee demand and new work styles.

Improving workplace experiences
As well as enabling desk and room bookings, workplace apps can also be used to order food and drink, book gym sessions or reserve parking spaces. They may allow employees to control ambient settings, as well as providing new ways of connecting and collaborating with colleagues.

Workplace apps are thus developing as important interfaces between employees and office buildings, giving individuals greater control over their office experience. This will help to align the modern office with the expectations of a younger workforce for whom smart technology already plays an integral part of their lifestyles outside of work.

The benefits of being smart
Overall the advantages that smart offices offer are in terms of the following:

  • Sustainability
  • Employee wellbeing
  • Agile working 
  • Workplace experience

Smart offices also aid talent attraction and retention, by creating spaces in which people want to work, while appealing to workers’ environmental values. Modern, sustainable offices can help to reinforce a company’s brand values and define a progressive, forward-thinking corporate culture.

Image by Quinn Kampschroer from Pixabay 

Open fridges in supermarkets face environmental scrutiny

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Recycling and waste disposal specialists Business Waste has called for a ban on open fridges in supermarkets due to the energy and environmental impact.

Fridges, used to display cold meats, dairy and other chilled produce, became popular with retailers as they allowed consumers to see what was on offer and easier access, resulting in bigger profits the the retail chains. 

However, Business Waste asserts this open-fronted design is precisely what makes them so damaging for the environment. The refrigerant used in many of the leading retailers’ stores consists of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – a group of so-called ‘super greenhouse gases’ which are much more harmful even than carbon dioxide, which, the firm sayd, means that the over 7,000 supermarket locations in the UK are collectively making a hefty contribution to harmful emission levels.

1.5 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy are used by supermarkets each year, with 60-70% used by fridges – the energy equivalent of boiling the kettle 15 million times. 

1% of the UK’s energy demand is used by retail giant Sainsbury’s alone. 

While some retailers have made moves to improve the environmental impact of their refrigeration systems – with some of the household names, such as Aldi and Tesco, committing to reducing their HFC use – Business Waste says this fails to address the energy wastage which is a factor of all open fridge designs, regardless of the coolant used.

New ‘aerofoil’ technology in supermarket fridges could mean energy savings of up to 25% if adopted by other retailers.

Mark Hall, spokesperson Business Waste, said: “Committing to reducing harmful emissions is all well and good, but retailers have been slow to do so in practice – and by continuing to use open fridges, they are simply paying lip service to improving their environmental credentials. 

“Shoppers adapt quickly to new initiatives; the 5p plastic carrier bag levy is an excellent example of the general public quickly adopting new ways of shopping. And, with environmental concerns higher than ever on the public consciousness, we are finding that consumers are increasingly willing to accept that changes must be made to prevent further damage to our planet.”

If all UK supermarkets put doors on their open fridges, the electricity saved would be approximately double of that generated by Yorkshire’s coal-fired Drax powerstation – Europe’s second largest.

Hall continued: “Supermarkets are ultimately concerned about the bottom line, and whether or not their sales would be affected without the pull of products catching shoppers’ eyes. They rely heavily on impulse purchasing – hence more expensive products being stocked at eye level and those tempting treats placed by the tills. But, as with many issues which are huge contributors to environmental damage, it’s now the responsibility of industries to innovate and find new ways to operate in this new, concerning landscape we find ourselves in.

“We urge all retailers to look more closely at how they store and market their cold products, and help dramatically reduce the use of open fridges in the UK. We have the opportunity to make the UK a leader in this space, and while some work has already been done, we have a long way to go.”

BEIS Chair implores Secretary of State on net zero actions

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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The Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial  Strategy (BEIS) Committee  has written to the new Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom to press for action on a series of policy fronts relating to the net zero initiative.

Issued covered include electric vehicles, carbon capture, and energy efficiency, which the BEIS says are crucial to ramp up UK efforts to meet future carbon budgets and the net-zero 2050 target.

On 12th July, the Committee published a report on energy efficiency. The report warned that the UK stands no chance of meeting its emissions reduction targets, including net zero by 2050, unless the Government takes urgent action to revive its failing energy efficiency policy and builders are compelled to deliver the latest energy efficiency standards. 

In her letter to the Secretary of State, Rachel Reeves MP is calling for stronger BEIS-Treasury collaboration to ensure that Treasury’s net zero funding review considers not only the costs, but also the benefits, of delivering the new target.

Reeves wrote:  “I welcome Andrea Leadsom as the new Secretary of State. With the Government committed to the net-zero target by 2050 but currently set up to fail to deliver on the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, it is clear the new Secretary of State will need to hit the ground running and act quickly to ramp up efforts on the policies and actions crucial to tackling climate change and capitalising on the opportunities of a low-carbon economy.  

“The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has made a series of recommendations to drive forward progress – in areas such as electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and on carbon capture and storage – which I hope the Secretary of State will be ready and willing to act upon.

“The Secretary of State should also seek to overcome Treasury resistance and ensure that her colleague at No.11 examines the potential benefits as well as the costs of the transition to net zero. The Government should also overcome its ideological opposition to on-shore wind – the cheapest form of electricity generation in the UK – and set out plans to fulfil this technology’s huge potential. “We look forward to questioning the Secretary of State later this year and pressing her on her commitment to the policies needed to deliver on the UK’s climate change obligations.” 

Image by digifly840 from Pixabay 

MPs warn Government on energy efficiency targets

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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The UK stands no chance of meeting its emissions reduction targets, including net zero by 2050, unless the Government takes urgent action to revive its failing energy efficiency policy and builders are compelled to deliver the latest energy efficiency standards.

That’s the warning delivered by MPs in a report by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which states that improving the energy efficiency of buildings will be vital to meeting climate change obligations, eradicating fuel poverty and lowering home energy bills.

The report asserts that energy efficiency is the cheapest way of reducing carbon emissions, but says public investment has shrunk, and the rate of installations has gone backwards – with insulation measures installed in houses under Government schemes now around 95 per cent lower than in 2012.

The report concludes that energy efficiency is a national infrastructure priority and calls on the Government to designate it as such. The report is clear that if the Government is serious about achieving its climate and fuel poverty targets it needs to fill the substantial investment gap and allocate more central funding for energy efficiency. 

It also highlights the low levels of per capita investment in residential energy efficiency schemes in England compared with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, concluding that the UK Government considers energy efficiency less of a priority than its counterparts in the devolved administrations.  

The report calls for more robust building regulations, finding that builders are currently able to exploit loopholes that allow them to build homes to outdated standards and sell homes that do not meet advertised energy standards. 

Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said: “Improving energy efficiency is by far the cheapest way of cutting our emissions and must be a key plank of any credible strategy to deliver net zero by 2050. If the Government lacks the political will to deliver energy efficiency improvements, how can we expect it to get on with the costlier actions needed to tackle climate change? More energy efficient buildings are not only crucial for tackling climate change but are vital for lowering customers’ energy bills and lifting people out of fuel poverty. Despite a consensus on what needs to be done, Ministers have continued to sit on their hands and failed to deliver the policies needed to boost energy efficiency. 

“The Government needs to commit to investing in schemes to ensure all buildings are brought up to the highest energy efficiency standards. The Government has failed to close loopholes in regulations that allow builders to develop to outdated standards and also enabled builders to sell homes that do not meet the standards advertised.” 

The report says the Government should set out urgently how it intends to meet its target for all homes to reach EPC Band C by 2035, which the Committee considers an empty commitment. 

The report also recommends that the Government drastically increases the £5 million allocated to the Green Home Finance Innovation Fund, set up to encourage the private sector to develop finance products to incentivise households to make energy efficiency improvements.  

Image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay

Data casts doubt on EU Emissions Trading System

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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The price of EUAs, the tradeable unit under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), jumped from €7.00/tCO2e in 2018 to an 11-year high of €27.46/tCO2e at the beginning of April this year.

During the last year, emissions under the carbon trading scheme in Europe fell by 3.5%.

A new report, the ICIS Market Insight: The Impact of Higher Carbon Prices on Utilities and Industries, suggests that the increased carbon price had only a marginal effect on reducing emissions in 2018.

The downward trend in emissions was driven by the power sector, specifically increased renewable generation replacing fossil fuel generation.

The Market Stability Reserve (MSR) is the key reform of the EU ETS and ICIS expects this mechanism will reduce auction volumes by roughly 1.70bn EUAs during 2019-2025, tightening the system and pushing companies to reduce carbon emissions.

Governmental policy and regulation will form part of these reductions, but carbon prices will be the lever that controls the speed at which new investments will take place.

The ICIS Market Insight report states that a high carbon price could accelerate the use of lower carbon technologies and the coal-to-gas switch.

The ICIS Market Insight: The Impact of Higher Carbon Prices on Utilities and Industries is available here.

“We expect some lag in the adoption of new technologies by industry as they continue to receive a greater part of the allowances for free, in order to shield them from the carbon leakage risk. But more stringent benchmarks and higher prices should provide the catalyst toward long-term investment in cleaner production technologies and energy efficiency,” said Phillip Ruf and Matteo Mazzoni, joint authors of the ICIS European carbon market analysis.

“With triggering higher carbon prices, this new framework will, in fact, also result in higher revenues from national auctions, thereby providing the possibility for government to subsidise investments in the different sectors by re-investing the achieved revenues.”

Government told to be ‘ambitious’ on UK’s emissions goals

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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The UK can end its contribution to global warming within 30 years by setting an ambitious new target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has said.

Ten years after the Climate Change Act became law, the Committee says now is the right moment to set a more ambitious goal – it asserts that achieving a ‘net-zero’ target by the middle of the century is in line with the UK’s commitment under the Paris Agreement; the pact which the UK and the rest of the world signed in 2015 to curb dramatically the polluting gases that cause climate change.

Scotland has greater potential to remove pollution from its economy than the UK overall, and can credibly adopt a more ambitious target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 2045.

Wales has slightly lower opportunities than the UK as a whole, and should adopt a target for a 95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

The CCC says now is a crucial time in the global effort to tackle climate change. Global average temperature has already risen by 1°C from pre-industrial levels, driving changes in our climate that are apparent increasingly. In the last ten years, pledges to reduce emissions by the countries of the world have reduced the forecast of global warming from above 4°C by the end of the century to around 3°C.  Net-zero in the UK would lead the global effort to further limit the rise to 1.5°C.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has emphasised the vital importance of limiting further warming to as low a level as possible and the need for deep and rapid emissions reductions in order to do so.

The CCC’s recommended targets, which cover all sectors of the UK, Scottish and Welsh economies, are achievable with known technologies, alongside improvements in people’s lives, and should be put into law as soon as possible, the Committee says.

Falls in cost for some of the key zero-carbon technologies mean that achieving net-zero is now possible within the economic cost that Parliament originally accepted when it passed the Climate Change Act in 2008.

The Committee’s report, requested by the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments in light of the Paris Agreement and the IPCC’s Special Report in 2018, finds that:

  • The foundations are in place throughout the UK and the policies required to deliver key pillars of a net-zero economy are already active or in development. These include: a supply of low-carbon electricity (which will need to quadruple by 2050), efficient buildings and low-carbon heating (required throughout the UK’s building stock), electric vehicles (which should be the only option from 2035 or earlier), developing carbon capture and storage technology and low-carbon hydrogen (which are a necessity not an option), stopping biodegradable waste going to landfill, phasing-out potent fluorinated gases, increasing tree planting, and measures to reduce emissions on farms. However, these policies must be urgently strengthened and must deliver tangible emissions reductions – current policy is not enough even for existing targets.
  • Policies will have to ramp up significantly for a ‘net-zero’ emissions target to be credible, given that most sectors of the economy will need to cut their emissions to zero by 2050. The Committee’s conclusion that the UK can achieve a net-zero GHG target by 2050 and at acceptable cost is entirely contingent on the introduction without delay of clear, stable and well-designed policies across the emitting sectors of the economy. Government must set the direction and provide the urgency. The public will need to be engaged if the transition is to succeed. Serious plans are needed to clean up the UK’s heating systems, to deliver the infrastructure for carbon capture and storage technology and to drive transformational change in how we use our land.
  • The overall costs of the transition to a net-zero economy are manageable but they must be fairly distributed. Rapid cost reductions in essential technologies such as offshore wind and batteries for electric vehicles mean that a net-zero greenhouse gas target can be met at an annual cost of up to 1-2% of GDP to 2050. However, the costs of the transition must be fair, and must be perceived as such by workers and energy bill payers. The Committee recommends that the Treasury reviews how the remaining costs of achieving net- zero can be managed in a fair way for consumers and businesses.

Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said: “We can all see that the climate is changing and it needs a serious response. The great news is that it is not only possible for the UK to play its full part – we explain how in our new report – but it can be done within the cost envelope that Parliament has already accepted. The Government should accept the recommendations and set about making the changes needed to deliver them without delay.”