Britain is not on track to achieve net zero

Early in December the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, claimed that Britain is the ‘poster child’ for tackling climate change.  But in truth we are letting ourselves down. This Tory Government is allowing airport expansion (which has a serious impact on us here in Surrey) is issuing hundreds of new oil field licences, allowing the Cumbria coal field to go ahead and kicking the date to stop the sale of new combustion engine powered cars and vans down the road, from 2030 to 2035. Worryingly, in July, Lord Deben, speaking as the then Chair of the Climate Change Committee, said Britain is not on track to achieve net zero or to have adapted to a warmer, more dangerous world.

Shockingly the UK’s Energy and Net Zero Secretary of State, Claire Coutinho, left The Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in its early stages, leaving her subordinate, Graham Stuart, the minister for Climate in the UK, in charge.  He then went AWOL at the final and most crucial decision stage to vote on the Rwanda Bill on the 12th of December.  Which meant no UK ministers were present!

Our Government should be standing up for marginalised communities, including women and girls who in less well-off countries are the most affected.  Many of the 198 countries present at the COP were disappointed, including developing nations who need billions of pounds to transition from coal, oil and gas.  These included small island states who are suffering from the devastation of their infrastructure, with rising sea levels, violent storms and stronger surges.  This is having a huge impact on their economy, livelihoods and the very existence of their homes. They argue that the agreed ‘Loss and Damage’ finance falls short for them to mitigate increasing debt and migration.

But will COP 28 lead to the end of fossil fuels?  The good news is that the conference called for signatories to pledge to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2030.  It asks for the nations to ‘embark on a de facto phase out of fossil fuels’, and for all nations to stop building new unabated coal power plants - but does not require them do so.

COP 28 has made progress.  For the first time it has made mention of attempting to lower fossil fuel production as an ambition.  But there are too many loopholes that greedy fossil fuel giants can use. They should be forced to move as fast as our scientists are advising.  We won’t be able to keep to the Paris Agreement’s resolution to keep below a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees.  Business should not be going on as usual.
With this glimmer of hope, councils will be looking to the Government for more funding to lower their carbon footprint.  

Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Claire Malcomson will be standing against Claire Coutinho, the Tory Energy and Net Zero Secretary.  In stark contrast to Coutinho, Claire Malcomson has nine years’ experience and a great track record regarding lowering public services’ carbon footprints, as she is also the Climate Change and Wellbeing Cabinet Member at Mole Valley District Council.

Claire reports ‘The reality is, at present we are all struggling to reach our councils’ climate emergency declarations that many of us made in 2019.  ‘We are doing all we can: including changing our energy supplier; adjusting our mowing regimes; using air source pumps; planting & saving trees; and altering our procurement policies, so our contractors have the same target of meeting net zero by 2030.’  

Claire Malcomson has also been involved in introducing EV charging points; a new On Demand electric bus service to Surrey, now in Mole Valley and Tandridge, and stopping oil extraction exploration at Leith Hill, fighting hard against fracking; requesting Surrey County Council to disallow new or the renewal of fossil fuel contracts; and making sure the Surrey Pension Fund and its investments reach net zero by 2035.  At present she is working on bringing solar PV carports to Mole Valley District Council run car parks, expanding pedestrian and cycling routes, and rolling out UKSPF grants to improve energy efficiency in community halls.  Claire Malcomson is disappointed with the COP 28 results, but is determined to lobby for future annual conferences to adopt stronger policies.