Reaction to Climate Change Committee Progress Report

"As this report underlines, the Government’s ambitious targets on climate change are just a load of hot air without the policies and investment to bring about a greener, fairer future for all.

"The report also makes clear that cuts to overseas aid cannot be isolated from the support for climate action needed by vulnerable communities around the world, and the Government must set a clear timetable for reinstating its 0.7 percent aid commitment. It is also obvious that fossil fuel exploration, including reports of a new oil field being considered near Shetland and a coal mine in Cumbria, are incompatible with net zero ambitions.

"The UK has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to chart the course for a decade of radical climate action. Every year of delay will mean higher economic and human costs. The world is watching."

Ends

Notes to editors:

• The Progress Report is available on the Climate Change Committee's website.
• The Times reported on Wednesday that ministers are planning to approve the Cambo heavy crude field off the coast of the Shetland Islands, and that the oilfield would operate until 2050:
• Oxfam and Swiss Re published an analysis showing that the UK economy could lose 6.5 percent of its value by mid-century on the world's current emission trajectory, compared with only 2.4 percent if global emissions are cut faster in line with the Paris Agreement.