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🗞️ Driving the news: Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the UK Climate Watchdog, recently criticized the Conservative and Labour parties for their inadequate response to the climate crisis
🔭 The context: Lord Deben presented the CCC’s final annual progress report, emphasizing the need for strong leadership on reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
•While praising Labour’s opposition to new oil and gas licenses, Deben highlighted the party’s failure to challenge vested interests
•He also highlighted the Conservative government’s delays and lack of action in various sectors, including power generation, transport, land use, and consumer behavior change
🌎 Why does it matter for the planet: The lack of leadership from UK political parties poses a significant obstacle to addressing the climate crisis effectively
•Delaying action not only increases the financial costs of achieving net-zero emissions but also undermines the country’s international standing and moral authority to influence global emissions reduction efforts
⏭️ What’s next:The CCC’s warnings serve as a call to action for both parties
•The next 18 months before the January 2025 General Election will be critical in determining the trajectory of climate action in the UK
•In Deben’s view, the Conservative government, led by Rishi Sunak and Grant Shapps, must prioritize net-zero policies to prevent hindering future climate action by any potential Labour government
💬 One quote: “If the next 18 months are as bad as the last in terms of policy and implementation, any programme of climate action from 2025 will need to be more radical and almost certainly much more expensive than if the work started today.” - Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change.
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