The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has recommended that the UK commit to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 81% from 1990 levels by 2035.
Presented in a letter, the advice was offered to assist determination of the country’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the forthcoming period, following a request for advice to this effect from Secretary of State for Energy Ed Milliband.
The independent public body said the recommendation is based on the latest science, technological progress, and UK-specific factors and will be detailed in the CCC’s upcoming Seventh Carbon Budget report in February 2025.
Professor Piers Forster, interim Chair of the Climate Change Committee, said:
“With climate damages already felt around the world, targeting an 81% emissions reduction by 2035 sets the right level of ambition. Our analysis shows this can be achieved in a way that benefits jobs and the economy, provided we hit the country’s 2030 target – set in line with the CCC’s advice in 2020.
“The technologies needed to achieve it are available, at a competitive price, today. Investment in low carbon technologies – electric vehicles, heat pumps, and renewables – needs to come now for this target to be achievable. Businesses will start to invest when they have confidence in what the Government’s long term policy plans are. We need to see the Government’s commitment to climate reflected in the upcoming Budget.”
“More than any commitment, what we really need is action. I have no doubt that the United Kingdom can once again be a leader on the international stage – in both deeds and words.”
The recommendations seem to be in accord with the UN Emissions Gap Report 2024, published on 24 October, which stated that a failure to increase ambition in countries’ new NDCs and start delivering immediately will put the world on course for a temperature increase of 2.6-3.1°C over the course of this century, with predicted debilitating impacts for people, planet and economies.
