Westminster plan to reach net zero falls short

LAST MONTH, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, set out the final part of their sixth assessment report. But not before it was scrutinised by representatives of the UN’s nearly 200 governments, who at several points pushed for the weakening of messages on fossil fuels, and for the insertion of references to carbon capture and storage.This report will inform the next UN climate summit, Cop28, in Dubai later this year. Where nations’ progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions will be assessed. It is clear that most governments are well off track.

In the UK, the government’s Net Zero Strategy has faced criticisms from scientists and climate change activists. There’s a total lack of investment to fund the proposed measures and an overreliance on technologies not yet rolled out or proven to work. A high court judged last July that the government’s plan was not clear on how it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

A new Net Zero plan, ‘Powering Up Britain’ published recently has again failed to convince the scientists and climate change activists. The report doesn’t lift the planning restrictions on onshore wind farms in England, thus limiting the expansion of renewable wind energy. There is no comprehensive nationwide programme for insulation of the UK’s housing stock nor a requirement for housebuilders to fit rooftop solar to new housing. The UK continues to have some of the leakiest homes in Europe with heating in homes accounting for 14% of UK emissions. Reducing this, would not only be good for the environment but for the living costs of working class people. From energy bills to food prices, the cost of living crisis is driven by over reliance on fossil fuel. The government had a real opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Instead, the main focus of the report is ‘Carbon Capture and Storage’. The government is gambling on this largely unproven technology to store carbon dioxide in large caverns under the North Sea. Rather than using it as a temporary measure, they want to invest heavily in this technology, to the tune of 20bn, to allow for the expansion of oil and gas production in the North Sea. Music to the ears of the gas and oil companies, who are in the midst of a new licensing round, with the government offering over 900 locations for development.

Last October, Shell admitted it had paid no windfall tax despite having made a record $30bn in profits so far. The oil company said it had taken advantage of a loophole exempting companies that invest their surplus in increasing oil and gas extraction. One potential new field, Rosebank, could benefit from an effective subsidy of £3.75bn under this windfall tax loophole. This would mean that Equinor, who made £62bn last year, would pay only £350m to develop Rosebank. These new oil fields will do very little to bolster UK’s energy security. It takes years before the first oil is extracted, the majority of which is likely to be exported.

The government's failure to fundamentally tackle climate change is not because they are uninformed or the plans ill thought out. It’s a conscious, political strategy to prioritise the interests of big business. Last year, the conservative party received £3.5m in donations from individuals and entities linked to fossil fuels, high polluting industries and climate denial. Under capitalism ‘green policies’ will always be driven by the profit motive rather than any concern for humanity or the planet. Capitalism is the cause of the climate crisis and only an overhaul of the system and the socialist transformation of society can save the planet.