To achieve Net Zero targets, Britons will need to take public transit more frequently, eat less meat, and fly less, according to the government’s top climate change advisors.
The conditions presented to MPs today are in direct opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s pledges earlier this month that British citizens would not need to alter their way of life to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
New targets mean the UK’s emissions should be slashed to 81 percent of 1990 levels by 2035.
At the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan a fortnight ago, the Prime Minister said he would not be ‘telling people how to live their lives’ by reducing air travel or changing their diets.
But today leading members of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) spelt out that hitting the target would involve widespread ‘behaviour change’.
Asked at the Commons environmental audit committee ‘to what extent will individual behavioural change be needed’, James Richardson, director of analysis at the CCC, said: ‘In terms of the analysis we’ve done, about 10 per cent of emissions reduction to 2035 comes from what we would think of as behaviour change. That’s predominantly around diets, flying and modal shifting [to] public transport.’
Detailing the ‘key behavioural changes people would notice’ if the UK follows the CCC’s advice, Mr Richardson said: ‘It’s not about telling people you must stop flying, but it’s the rate of growth of flights that we think would happen if we didn’t take any action… When we talk to citizens, people seem willing to accept there must be some degree of constraint.’
Regarding changes in diet, Mr Richardson said: ‘We think about half the change you’d need to get to by 2035 is a continuation of the existing trends of people changing what they eat.’
He acknowledged that the increased expense of living may have caused some individuals to alter their diets in recent years, such as by eating less meat.
Mr Richardson was asked why the installation rate of energy-efficient heat pumps is nowhere near hitting the Government’s target of 600,000 a year by 2028.
He said installing a pump would hit consumers in the pocket as they are more expensive to run than gas boilers, adding that ‘at the moment if you do the right thing you will lose from it.’
Piers Forster, interim chairman of the CCC, said the price of electricity was too high in the UK compared to gas, partly to subsidise wind and solar power.
He said: ‘Our very top recommendation is to reduce the cost of electricity. If you reduce the cost of electricity, you make it more compelling to buy an electric car, to install an air-source heat pump rather than a gas boiler and for our industries to make the necessary investment in electrification.’
Professor Forster said there is a need for ‘long-term consistent policies that are really well communicated by the industry and communicated by the Government as well’.
He added: ‘You have to keep that really consistent message out there that, in the long term, your electric car will not be as expensive for you as the petrol or diesel one you are currently using.’
Mr Richardson said he supported the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate which imposes stiff fines if car-makers miss their sales targets for EVs.
Yet, these don’t apply to those in authority. They need their private jets to fly to Davos so they can give all our tax money away.
Will the British populace follow orders, in your opinion? Undoubtedly, they won’t. Their meat-eating and international travel will continue.
People will not alter their lives for deceivers such as Starmer and Reeves – to be honest they make Boris Johnson look like Mother Theresa.
Why our government makes such a big deal out of pollution and climate change is beyond me. Our actions won’t change anything because China is the country with the highest emissions. Although we seem to be quite happy buying all this cheap tat from China. Then we have very little choice because practically everything is made in China these days.
All of these climate zealots should be monitored to ensure they don’t take flights and only use public transport, and that their food, drink and clothing have no carbon footprint. Then the rest of us may consider joining them, but not until they’ve proved themselves.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 