This statutory report, produced by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), provides a comprehensive overview of the UK Government’s progress to date in reducing emissions.
The report, laid before Parliament, summarises the UK’s progress in reducing emissions, what is required in future, indicators of delivery progress, assessment of policy effectiveness and priority actions.
Following its in-depth analysis, the priority actions the CCC has come up with are:
- Make electricity cheaper. Our highest-priority recommendation is to remove policy costs from electricity prices. This will support industrial electrification and ensure the underlying lower running costs of heat pumps compared to fossil fuel boilers are reflected in household bills (R2025-046).
- Provide confidence and certainty to scale heat pump deployment in existing buildings. By 2035, the market for low-carbon heating – and its supporting supply chains – needs to scale up to deliver all new and replacement heating installations.
- Implement regulations to ensure that new homes are not connected to the gas grid. With high ambition on building new homes, it is essential for the Government to ensure that these are built in a manner that is fit for the future.
- Introduce a comprehensive programme to decarbonise public sector buildings. A strategic, coordinated plan and long-term funding are needed to deliver decarbonisation across the entire public sector estate.
- Accelerate the electrification of industrial heat. The upcoming Industrial Strategy and Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy must support a rapid transition to electric heat across much of industry, including ensuring that financial barriers and non-financial issues such as grid connections do not hinder electrification.
- Effectively deliver rapid expansion of the low-carbon electricity system.
- Put policies and incentives in place to ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration. The proposed Land Use Framework for England is an important step in setting out how land use can be balanced to deliver on a wide range of objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, food security, and nature.
- Develop policy to ensure that the aviation industry takes responsibility for its emissions reaching Net Zero by 2050.
- Finalise business models for engineered removals so that these can be opened to the market.
- Publish a strategy to support skills. Proactively growing the workforce is a critical enabler in areas such as heat pump installation and tree planting.
