Recommendation 11

We asked whether by the time we get to COP 26 everybody will have a good idea of exactly how the government is going to meet its net carbon target by 2050. HM Treasury told us this was really a matter for BEIS. It explained that net zero would require an “immensely complicated” programme of work over nearly 30 years, and which will depend on things that are unknowable today, for example future technological change. While HM Treasury was clear that current and future governments would need to change the strategy, for example, as new evidence comes along, it acknowledged that it was critical for businesses and households to have “the best idea that they can have of the future” to reduce the whole economy cost. HM Treasury told us that the cross-government strategy was intended to set “out a very clear direction, next steps, plans and strategies, sector by sector, then an overall framework to try to pull all of those together.”20 It also told us that the government accepted that further action, beyond the current range of tax, regulation and other instruments, would be needed to hit the 2050 net zero target.21 The impact of environmental policies on tax revenue