The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has released its first assessment of the Government’s progress on reducing emissions. The independent, statutory body found that government policies to reduce emissions have improved since last year. With more action, the UK can hit its legally binding climate targets and improve energy security for households and businesses across the UK.

Interim chair of the Climate Change Committee, Professor Piers Forster, said: “The UK can be proud of our progress in reducing emissions. We’ve cut them by over 50 per cent since 1990. Our country is among a leading group of economies demonstrating a commitment to decarbonise society. This is to be celebrated: delivering deep emissions reduction is the only way to slow global warming.”

There was a warning, however, that the benefits of climate action need to be visible if public support is to be maintained for the ending of fossil fuels and transition to renewables.

The Committee recommended that making electricity cheaper would therefore help people feel the benefits of the transition and speed up the uptake of clean electric technologies, such as heat pumps and electric vehicles, and lauded progress on key areas this year, including new car electric vehicle market share (19.6 per cent in 2024), heat pump installations (up 56 per cent), and woodland creation (up 59 per cent).

The committee praised the last Conservative government, saying much of these key areas had been a result of their policies, and added that this government needed to accelerate their policies as electric vehicle and heat pump rollout remain below what will be needed, and the tree planting rate from last year may not be sustained without further support.

None-the-less, over the last year, the UK has made progress on reducing emissions, with a fall 2.5 per cent in 2024, the tenth consecutive year of sustained reduction in emissions, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years 2020 and 2021.

Priority recommendations in the report include:
Make electricity cheaper.
Implement regulations to ensure that new homes are not connected to the gas grid.
Introduce a comprehensive programme to decarbonise public sector buildings.
Accelerate the electrification of industrial heat.
Effectively deliver rapid expansion of the low-carbon electricity system.
Put policies and incentives in place to ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration.
Develop policy to ensure that the aviation industry takes responsibility for its emissions reaching net-zero by 2050.

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