Boris Johnson’s government must spend an additional £33bn a year on measures to tackle the climate emergency if it is to meet its target of cutting carbon of emissions to zero by 2050, according to a detailed analysis published on Sunday.
Investment in low-carbon transport – including more infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, improved railways and better facilities for cyclists – would have to rise by £12bn a year, and spending on low-carbon homes and other buildings would need to be increased by £10bn annually.
The huge sums of extra spending required have been produced before Wednesday’s budget by the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, which says the necessary measures would not only help tackle climate change but would also deliver an economic boost and help Johnson’s ambition to “level up” the country.
Last summer the government signed into law a commitment requiring the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, replacing the previous pledge to reduce them by at least 80% compared with 1990 levels. But the IPPR argues in its study that in order to do so ministers will have to loosen their own fiscal rules, which cap borrowing for investment at 3% of GDP annually.
The former Labour leader Ed Miliband, a co-chair of the IPPR’s environmental justice commission, said the budget needed to put climate change at its heart.
“This will take investment but making these decisions will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, improve our natural environment, cut air pollution and make Britain a better place to love,” he said. “It makes economic and environmental sense.”
In order to hit net zero within 30 years, the UK will need to be running on renewable energy with industry using mostly carbon-free processes. All homes and other buildings will have to be fully insulated and public transport will need to be greener and more efficient.
Currently the government spends about £17bn a year on measures related to the climate and environment, which, the study shows, would not even be sufficient for it to meet its previous target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The IPPR calculates it would need to spend an additional £11bn just to meet that previous target.
The Green MP Caroline Lucas, another co-chair of the environmental justice commission said that the economic shock to the economy from the coronavirus made investment in the green economy even more necessary.
“This budget will be a litmus test of whether the government understand the climate crisis, and on the basis of the evidence they are falling terrifyingly short of what is needed,” Lucas said.
“With likely shocks to the economy because of the coronavirus outbreak, and the accelerating climate emergency, investing in a green new deal is now more important than ever.
“It wouldn’t only help us address the climate and nature emergencies, it would transform almost every aspect of our economy and society and deliver on government promises to level up the nation by making our economy fairer and fit for the future.”
