Britain's approach to changing public travel, heating and food habits is "inadequate" to meet its net zero and environment targets, a parliamentary committee warned Wednesday.

The chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee Kate Parminter said after a summer of record temperatures, fires and drought, "an immediate and sustained response" was needed.

"People power is critical to reach our environmental goals, but unless we are encouraged and enabled to change behaviours in how we travel, what we eat and buy and how we heat our homes, we won't meet those targets," she added.

" Polling shows the public is ready for leadership from the government. People want to know how to play their part in tackling climate change and environmental damage."

The committee from the unelected upper chamber of parliament urged the government to use the lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic to help communicate the need for behaviour changes.

They included areas such as "how we travel, what we eat, what we buy and how we use energy at home", the committee said.

Parminter urged new Prime Minister Liz Truss to urgently "set out her vision of a country where low carbon choices and behaviours can flourish".

The panel's findings follow a warning from another key committee that the government is failing to make adequate progress to meet its targets.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), an independent body established under 2008 climate change legislation to advise the government, said in June that its latest annual progress report found "scant evidence of delivery against... headline goals so far".

Only a year earlier it had praised the government of then premier Boris Johnson for its new net-zero strategy to be carbon neutral by 2050, and a series of targets to be met along the way.

- Confusion -

The average land temperature in Britain had risen by around 1.2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels and sea levels had risen by 16 centimetres since 1900, the body said in 2021.

In 2015, the Paris climate pact saw countries pledge to limit global temperature rises to less than 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to go down to 1.5 degrees.

Experts believe this can be achieved only by the world hitting the 2050 net zero target.

After she became prime minister in early September, Truss said she was "completely committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050".

But she also told parliament she had decided to "re-examine" this objective to ensure it was achieved in a way favourable to the economy and growth.

Her early decisions as leader, including a pledge to lift the ban on fracking and to offer new North Sea oil and gas licences, have confused even her own camp.

A cross-party group of pro-environment parliamentarians also wrote to her in early September asking her to give a firm re-commitment to the goal of reaching carbon neutrality.

In response, the government said it remained "fully committed to the legally binding target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050".

A spokesman claimed Britain had led the world on climate change by "driving down emissions by 44 percent since 1990... which is more than any other G7 country".

The government's "Net Zero Review" would "ensure the UK's fight against climate change maximises economic growth, energy security and affordability for consumers and businesses," he added.

UK to cap renewable energy company revenues
London (AFP) Oct 12, 2022 - Britain will introduce a cap on the revenues of companies that produce low-carbon electricity in an attempt to mitigate the impact of soaring energy prices on consumers.

The temporary cap on energy companies that produce electricity from renewables and nuclear is being introduced in England and Wales, the government said in a statement late Tuesday.

The measure "will reduce the impact of unprecedented wholesale prices on consumers and the taxpayer by introducing a revenue limit, curbing the amount generators can make", the government said.

The main opposition Labour party called the measure a "windfall tax", which business minister Jacob Rees-Mogg denied.

He told the BBC that, after intervening on retail energy prices, the British government was now acting on wholesale prices.

"This is simply mischaracterising what's being done, and misunderstands how the market works," he said.

"What this is doing is rationalising the market in a way that energy companies have been in favour," he added.

"It's clearly not a tax. It's nothing to do with the profits these companies are making."

Liz Truss successfully campaigned to become prime minister by saying she was opposed to the idea of a tax on the profits of energy giants.

The previous government of Boris Johnson introduced a one-off tax on the profits of oil and gas companies, but this could largely be offset by investment in hydrocarbon production.

- 'Double standard' -

Before the introduction of recent energy subsidies, "businesses and consumers had been left facing increasing financial turmoil, with energy bills estimated to increase to as high as 6,500 pounds before the government stepped in," the government said.

Truss last month introduced a two-year cap on energy bills for domestic consumers at 2,500 pounds ($2,770) a year per average household.

Businesses will have around half their bills covered for six months.

The UK is particularly reliant on gas for its electricity, the price of which has soared since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

Shell boss Ben van Beurden last week told an energy conference that in light of soaring energy prices and resulting inflation, governments should be imposing more taxes on companies in the sector.

Dhara Vyas, policy director at industry lobbyists Energy UK, warned that the new revenue cap mechanism, the details of which are yet to be worked out, must not "risk the very investment the UK needs to ensure long-term, sustainable economic growth".

Dan McGrail, chief executive of renewable energy organisation RenewableUK, added that the move risked "skewing investment towards the fossil fuels that have caused this energy crisis".

Environmental NGO Greenpeace UK accused the government of a "glaring double standard".

"Was it just a dream or did we all hear the prime minister say, just weeks ago, she was against a windfall tax?," said policy director Doug Parr.

"Now she's going to impose a de facto one after all but only on electricity generators, not a proper one on oil and gas firms. This glaring double standard makes no sense."

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