Planning constraints will prevent UK from net zero, reckon experts
Planning obstacles jeopardise the country’s drive to net zero, warned the Climate Change Committee (CCC) – an environmental advisory body – in its latest annual progress report on tackling carbon emissions.
It argued “rapid reform is necessary” to ramp up renewable generation, speed up grid connections, decarbonise the electricity system, and slash emissions.
“In a range of areas, the deployment of essential upgrades to the electricity grid and other net zero infrastructure is being stymied by restrictive planning rules. The planning system should have an overarching requirement to ensure planning decisions give full regard to net zero,” it said.
One of the Westminster body’s key suggestions was for net zero to be made an essential legislative requirement of groups involved in the energy sector, with the government recently placing these requirements on market watchdog Ofgem.
While renewable electricity capacity increased last year, it was not at the rate required to meet government targets – particularly for solar power where it is aiming for 70GW of generation by 2035.
Bemoaning a wasted opportunity to drive forward renewable energy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the CCC called for the speedy deployment of onshore wind and solar to “reduced the UK’s dependence on imported fossil gas.”
Onshore wind turbines have been left in a de-facto moratorium, with just two being installed in England last year, according to trade association Renewable UK.
Following its latest findings, the CCC’s confidence in the country meeting its climate goals over the medium term was now declining, with the net zero target less than three decades away.
It said: “The CCC’s confidence in the UK meeting its goals from 2030 onwards is now markedly less than it was in our previous assessment a year ago. A key opportunity to push a faster pace of progress has been missed.”
These criticisms over planning featured alongside its broader results, with CCC calculating that UK greenhouse gas emissions have so far fallen 46 per cent from 1990 levels.
Currently, the UK is not on course to meet a pledge to slash emissions 68 per cent by the end of the decade, with the CCC warning forecasting that the government needs to quadruple the recent rate of annual emissions reduction outside the electricity supply sector.
“Time is now very short to achieve this change of pace. Glimmers of the net zero transition can be seen in growing sales of new electric cars and the continued deployment of renewable capacity, but the scale up of action overall is worryingly slow,” it concluded.
When approached for comment, a government spokesperson said: “The UK is cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country and attracted billions of investment into renewables, which now account for 40 per cent of our electricity. With a new department dedicated to delivering net zero and energy security, we are driving economic growth, creating jobs, bringing down energy bills, and reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels.”