![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/14101257\/SEI_208577947.jpg\")
<\/div>Climate activists protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London in March<\/p>\n
Andrea Domeniconi\/Alamy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
This week, more than 400 climate scientists from UK institutions published an open letter<\/a>, pleading with the UK\u2019s political parties to pledge stronger climate action over the next parliament, ahead of the 4 July general election.<\/p>\n Their demands included a \u201ccredible\u201d carbon-cutting strategy for the country, amid an election campaign that has seen little in-depth discussion of the UK\u2019s net-zero transition.<\/p>\n Why are the scientists worried? After all, the UK has one of the most ambitious climate targets in the world \u2013 a legally binding goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 \u2013 and has halved its greenhouse gas emissions since 1990.<\/p>\n But the truth is that the UK\u2019s race to net zero has slowed to a crawl in recent years, with annual emissions falling at half the rate required to meet interim targets<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although huge progress has been made in decarbonising the electricity supply, with zero-carbon sources now generating about half of all power, other sectors are lagging. Outside the electricity sector, the rate of emissions cuts must quadruple over the next seven years if the UK is to meet its promise to reduce emissions by 68 per cent by 2030, the UK government\u2019s climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee, said in October<\/a>. It warned that the UK is \u201cunlikely\u201d to get there under current plans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just a really strong sense of frustration in the climate science community,\u201d says Emily Shuckburgh<\/a> at the University of Cambridge, who jointly organised the scientists\u2019 letter. \u201cWe just simply haven\u2019t seen the level of response required.\u201d<\/p>\n Slow progress means problems have mounted, waiting in the wings for the next government to tackle.<\/p>\n By the end of the decade, emissions from surface transport \u2013 that is road, rail and ships \u2013 need to fall by almost 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent, quadruple the rate of the previous decade. Electric car sales may be growing strongly, but sales of electric vans and trucks are lagging and the number of public charge points isn\u2019t growing quickly enough to keep pace with the volume of electric vehicles hitting the roads. Meanwhile, the use of public transport fell sharply during the covid-19 pandemic and hasn\u2019t returned to its previous levels.<\/a><\/p>\n Getting the transport sector to net zero will require more than just convincing everyone to buy an electric car, says Michael Pollitt<\/a> at the University of Cambridge. Fewer cars, and smaller ones, are a crucial part of the puzzle. \u201cOne would like to see more radical thinking on inter-urban transport, such as prioritisation of lanes for smaller vehicles, and thinking of radically reducing vehicle sizes and vehicle weights,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we can get people moving in radically smaller vehicles or in mass transit, that is the way that we are going to get to net zero in transport.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to buildings, home heating is the major headache. About 23 million homes in the UK are heated by gas boilers. All these homes need to be warmed by zero-carbon energy sources by mid-century, with most expected to switch to heat pumps.<\/a><\/p>\n But the transition is going far too slowly. In 2022, just 69,000 heat pumps were installed in UK homes, far short of the 600,000 installations per year targeted by 2028. Part of the problem is financial: heat pumps cost far more to install than a gas boiler and often cost more to run due to extra levies on the cost of grid power. \u201cWe absolutely must get the price of heat pumps down,\u201d says Pollitt. \u201cUnless the price of heat pumps comes down substantially, that is a major roadblock to decarbonising heating.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s an urgency to solving these problems, says Nick Eyre<\/a> at the University of Oxford, who signed the open letter. Gas boilers installed in 2035 will still be heating homes in 2050. \u201cHeat pumps and vehicles, we will need to have pretty much cracked by the early 2040s. That means being very serious about it in the 2030s,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n That is why inaction during this decade, when the UK government should be focusing on getting industries ready for mass deployment, is so worrying. \u201cWe know what to do,\u201d says Eyre. \u201cBut the last couple of years, in particular, have been a period where there\u2019s not really been any action at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond heat, power and transport, even tougher choices lie ahead. Emissions from agriculture and land use, for example, have barely changed in a decade, but need to fall 29 per cent by 2035. Delivering these cuts is likely to involve action to change people\u2019s diets. Likewise, cutting aviation emissions will require action to control demand, such as a tax on frequent fliers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge will be starting to impose policies and regulations which affect people\u2019s day-to-day lives,\u201d says Leo Mercer<\/a> at the London School of Economics. \u201cIf policies aren\u2019t communicated well, people push back pretty strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside domestic challenges, the UK needs to regain its reputation on the international stage. Under former prime minister Boris Johnson, the UK hosted the COP26 climate summit and led international coalitions on deforestation, methane and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n But the UK\u2019s slowing progress on its domestic climate agenda, alongside cuts to international aid and climate diplomacy,<\/a> has weakened its international reputation. UK government decisions to approve new domestic fossil fuel projects<\/a>, while urging low-income countries to \u201ctransition away\u201d from fossil fuels<\/a>, has also rankled.<\/p>\n Without countries like the UK demonstrating that net zero is achievable \u2013 and desirable \u2013 as a national strategy, convincing low-income countries to cut emissions is an uphill battle. It is therefore crucial for the UK to re-establish its reputation as a climate leader in the next parliament, says Caterina Brandmayr<\/a> at Imperial College London.<\/p>\n Next year, countries are due to submit new commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 under the Paris Agreement. \u201cThis, therefore, is a pivotal moment for the global community,\u201d she says. \u201cThis parliament will be crucial not only to ensure delivery in the UK, but also to raise ambition globally.\u201d<\/p>\n So, will any party deliver the scale of action needed to put the UK back on track? All the major parties agree on the need to reach net zero by mid-century. And there is striking agreement between Labour and the Conservatives on the need for more renewable power, particularly offshore wind.<\/p>\nTransport and buildings<\/h2>\n
Farming and aviation<\/h2>\n
What the parties are offering<\/h2>\n