Achieving net zero

BEIS, working with HM Treasury, Cabinet Office and the other departments with responsibility for aspects of net zero should: • set out how it will manage the risks we have identified in this report (paragraphs 2.11 to 2.18) to creating collective responsibility for net zero; and

Ref Page 8, paragraph 10, first bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, working with BEIS, should: • ensure that existing and planned arrangements to help departments reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions align with achieving net zero. In particular, ensure that the new Greening Government Commitment targets, due for release in April 2021, are sufficiently ambitious to set an example to businesses in the UK; and

Ref Page 10, paragraph 12, first bullet point · Implemented Q2 2023-24

• ensure that similarly ambitious targets extend to all significant sources of emissions from the public sector, including schools and the NHS.

Ref Page 10, paragraph 12, second bullet point · Implemented Q2 2023-24

BEIS should: • prepare contingency plans that consider how to provide greater certainty and transparency around its net zero plans even if a full strategy is not possible prior to COP26 given the ongoing uncertainty around the impact of COVID-19.

Ref Page 11, paragraph 13, first bullet point

BEIS should: • identify and evaluate the elements of the net zero strategy which are uncertain and develop a plan to reduce this over time, including assigning responsibilities for managing reduction in uncertainty (such as by carrying out sufficient research or piloting); and

Ref Page 12, paragraph 14, first bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

• set out its timetable for when key decisions in the pathway to net zero will need to be taken.

Ref Page 12, paragraph 14, second bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

BEIS should: • ensure that the main interdependencies within the achievement of net zero are understood by the relevant departments involved;

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• ensure the net zero strategy takes account of the main interdependencies between different work streams; and

Ref Page 12, paragraph 15, second bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

• set out its plan for managing interdependencies in the future, including who is responsible for managing each interdependency and how it will review progress on a regular basis.

Ref Page 12, paragraph 15, third bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

All departments with lead responsibility for decarbonising sectors (BEIS, Defra, DfT and MHCLG) should: • work on widening government’s understanding of links between achieving net zero and other government aims, such as for clean air and ‘levelling up’; and

Ref Page 13, paragraph 15, fourth bullet point · Implemented Q4 2022-23

• use this understanding to establish how trade-offs between net zero and other aims will be managed, including the prioritisation of resources

Ref Page 13, paragraph 15, fifth bullet point · Implemented Q4 2022-23

• establish regular review points, starting with a review by the end of 2021, to consider the effectiveness of the arrangements, including those established within departments such as carbon boards, and whether changes are required.

Ref Page 8, paragraph 10, second bullet point · Implemented Q4 2021-22

BEIS, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury should: • develop and monitor a set of clear, relevant and consistent data on the progress of net zero policies across government along with a process for escalating issues when the data show policies are off track.

Ref Page 13, paragraph 16, first bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

BEIS and HM Treasury should: • collate information on how much government is spending to achieve net zero overall, including how much it has committed and how much it has actually spent. This should include the costs of policies that go through consumers’ bills.

Ref Page 14, paragraph 17, first bullet point · Implemented Q4 2023-24

BEIS, with input from other departments, should: • establish a public engagement strategy that sets out how government will ensure ongoing buy-in to the changes required by the transition to net zero. This should include consideration of how it will tailor its messages for audiences with different characteristics, including ethnic minorities; age groups; geographical locations; and income levels; and

Ref Page 14, paragraph 18, first bullet point · Implemented Q3 2021-22

• ensure it has data that enable it to monitor the cumulative social and economic impact on different individuals and communities of the transition to net zero so that government can consider whether to change course if it deems the burden is falling overly onto specific groups.

Ref Page 14, paragraph 18, second bullet point · Implemented Q4 2023-24

BEIS and HM Treasury should: • establish progress measures and monitoring arrangements that enable them to track whether they are achieving the required investment from the private sector.

Ref Page 15, paragraph 19, first bullet point · Implemented Q3 2024-25

Cabinet Office should: • ensure the next iteration of Single Departmental Plans creates a cross-government plan for achieving net zero; and

Ref Page 9, paragraph 10, third bullet point · Implemented Q2 2021-22

• utilise its programme of work aimed at modernising and reforming the civil service to increase the visibility of net zero within the civil service and develop key skills, such as in climate science, data analysis and systems thinking, that will be necessary to achieve net zero.

Ref Page 9, paragraph 10, fourth bullet point · Implemented Q1 2022-23

HM Treasury should: • publish analysis shortly after the next Comprehensive Spending Review, which will allocate high-level budgets to departments in the medium term, demonstrating its impact on expected emissions; and

Ref Page 9, paragraph 10, fifth bullet point · Implemented Q3 2022-23

• ensure its guidance that informs public spending decisions, such as on policy appraisal (the Green Book) and guidance for accounting officers, requires departments to evaluate the impact of policies on the achievement of the net zero target, and is consistently adhered to.

Ref Page 9, paragraph 10, sixth bullet point · Implemented Q4 2022-23

BEIS and MHCLG should: • ensure that local authorities’ perspectives are incorporated into the formation of sector strategies and the overall net zero strategy; and

Ref Page 9, paragraph 11, first bullet point

• ensure local authorities have the skills and capacity to mobilise the action that is required locally across all sectors.

Ref Page 9, paragraph 11, second bullet point · Implemented Q2 2023-24

BEIS, working with other government departments, should: • consider how to extend its coordination arrangements beyond central government departments to include the perspectives of other public bodies.

Ref Page 10, paragraph 11, third bullet point · Implemented Q2 2023/24