Climate Change Committee: "Decarbonisation will create economic opportunities in the economy, tackle climate change & cut household bills"
Wed 26 February 2025
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The UK Government's climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), says that the UK's transport sector will need to play an increasing role in decarbonising the UK economy in line with targets to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Presenting a new pathway to a decarbonised UK, the CCC says that 27% of the emissions reduction projected by 2040 will come from surface transport. The Committee says that EV sales are already having a measurable effect in reducing emissions. "This will speed up over the coming years as prices fall and sales grow, with fully electric options accounting for nearly all new car and van sales by 2030 and making up over three-quarters of the fleet on the road by 2040."
The CCC says that the power sector has already made a major impact on decarbonisation and that it's time for other sectors, including transport, buildings, industry, and farming to ramp up their contributions.
The Seventh Carbon Budget (2038-2042) report says that electricity will make up 60% of emissions reductions by 2040, including decarbonising the grid and replacing fossil fuelled cars and heating systems with electric alternatives (EVs and heat pumps).
The Committee notes that the world now invests almost twice as much in clean energy as it does in fossil fuels, with clean energy investment expected to reach $2 trillion in 2024. China is leading the way in terms of investment in many of the clean energy and vehicle technologies.
The CCC says that making investments sooner creates savings over time and will result in cheaper bills by 2050. Based on the planned parthway, household energy bills are predicted to be about £700 cheaper than today and household driving bills will be reduced by a similar amount.
Decarbonising the UK will also protect the UK from future energy shocks which, the Committee says, have been responsible for over half of recessions since the 1970s.
Most of the investment needed will be made by the private sector; the CCC says that public spending per year will never exceed 2% of total managed public expenditure.
Interim Chair of the Climate Change Committee, Professor Piers Forster, said: “For a long time, decarbonisation in this country has really meant work in the power sector, but now we need to see action on transport, buildings, industry, and farming. This will create opportunities in the economy, tackle climate change, and bring down household bills.
“Our analysis shows that there is no need to pitch action on climate change against the economy. We will need Government and business to deliver the investment, but we are confident that this Seventh Carbon Budget offers a secure, prosperous future for the UK.”
Commenting on the Committee's report, Zemo Managing Director Claire Haigh said: "We agree - indeed, we've been saying for some time - that now is the time to deliver the technologies that will decarbonise surface transport in the UK. For the most part, we know what these technologies are; now we need to accelerate their take-up on the ground.
"There are many hurdles still to cross, of course. That's why we're working with our members and stakeholders to develop a 'Map of Missing Policies' to identify changes that can be made to get us past these challenges and deliver against the pathway set out by the CCC."
The Committee on Climate Change was set up as a part of the Climate Change Act, 2008. The Act includes a 2050 emissions reduction target and then provision for a series of ‘carbon budgets’, five-yearly emissions milestones to keep on track towards that long-term target – to balance against often-short term political priorities of Governments.
In 2019, theClimate Change Act was amended and the UK became the first major economy to commit to a net zero emissions target; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2050. The commitment to net zero by 2050 is in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recommendation that “to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and prevent the worst impacts of climate change”.
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