Boris Johnson has been warned almost half of all cars on UK roads must be electric within a decade if the country is to meet its ambitious climate change targets.
The Prime Minister has already forced an end to new petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2030, 10 years earlier than originally planned.
But the Climate Change Committee says that to meet ‘ambitious’ plans to cut emissions by 68 per cent from 1990 levels by then, 46 per cent of the UK ‘car fleet’ must already have electric motors.
Committee chairman Lord Deben said it would be ’eminently achievable’ if effective policies were introduced across the economy without delay, which in turn would bring significant benefits for the UK’s economic recovery.
The warning came as Government auditors warned that ministers have no idea how much it will cost the economy to meet Britain’s overall goal of becoming ‘net zero’ by 2050.
In a report released today the National Audit Office said the grand plan was a ‘colossal challenge’.
The UK has enshrined the goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in law, which means cutting greenhouse gases as much as possible and offsetting remaining pollution by planting trees or using technology to capture carbon.
But the NAO said that ‘neither BEIS nor HM Treasury collates information on the total costs and benefits of government policies that contribute to achieving net zero’.
The Prime Minister has already forced an end to new petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2030, 10 years earlier than originally planned
But the Climate Change Committee says that to meet ‘ambitious’ plans to cut emissions by 68 per cent from 1990 levels by then, 46 per cent of the UK ‘car fleet’ must already have electric motors.
It also said the Government needs to spearhead a ‘concerted national effort’ to achieve net zero, which would be likely to involve widespread changes to people’s lives such as driving electric cars or eating less meat.
The Government will need to ‘engage actively and constructively with all those who will need to play a part – across the public sector, with industry and with citizens – to inject the necessary momentum’, it said.
Plans by Beis to set out a clear net zero strategy before UN Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow in November 2021 are a ‘critical step’ for achieving the emissions cuts, to help identify people, policies and funding, the NAO added.
The Prime Minister said the ‘ambitious’ target in the new climate plan – or nationally determined contribution (NDC) – under the Paris Agreement would see the UK cutting emissions at the fastest rate of any major economy so far.
The 2030 target to cut greenhouse gases by at least 68 per cent on 1990 levels goes further than previous targets under domestic climate law, which required a 61 per cent reduction over that time.
And it is significantly higher than the UK’s target to cut emissions by 53 per cent, as its contribution to the European Union’s existing climate plan under the Paris deal – though the bloc is also expected to raise its ambition.
The UK, which is set to host United Nations Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow next year after the conference was delayed by the pandemic, is setting out its own national plan for the first time due to Brexit.
Labour welcomed the strengthening of the UK target but warned it was the ‘minimum’ the country should aim for and called for a plan to meet the goal, including a £30 billion stimulus for a green recovery in the next 18 months.
Environmental groups also supported the increase in ambition on emissions reductions, but said the UK could go further and faster, and also called for policies and action to achieve the target.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries have committed to keep global warming to ‘well below’ 2C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C, seen as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt.
To meet the 1.5C target, the world’s carbon emissions must fall to net zero by 2050, with significant cuts in pollution and any remaining emissions offset by planting trees or using technology to capture carbon.
Last month, Mr Johnson unveiled a 10-point green plan for efforts to cut emissions, including phasing out conventional cars, increasing low carbon heating in homes, boosting offshore wind and rolling out hydrogen technology.
Setting out the new target, he said: ‘We have proven we can reduce our emissions and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process – uniting businesses, academics, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities in a common goal to go further and faster to tackle climate change.
‘Today, we are taking the lead with an ambitious new target to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy, with our 10 Point Plan helping us on our path to reach it.
‘But this is a global effort, which is why the UK is urging world leaders as part of next week’s Climate Ambition Summit to bring forward their own ambitious plans to cut emissions and set net zero targets.’
Shadow business and energy secretary Ed Miliband said: ‘We welcome the important strengthening of the 2030 UK target. But we believe this is the minimum we should aim for.
‘Our goal should be to go further and faster, cutting the significant majority of emissions in this decisive decade, which is the right way to lead in creating the climate jobs of the future and keeping global warming below 1.5C.’
He warned of a ‘yawning gap’ between the Government’s aspirations and policies to deliver them. He also called for a plan which would lay out the policies to tackle the climate emergency and do so in a way that creates jobs and is fair.