Friday 24 July 2020

Should the UK’s response to coronavirus take 2050 net zero goal into account?

The Treasury Committee is seeking additional written evidence on how and whether the UK's response to coronavirus should take the 2050 net zero carbon goal into account.

It is relaunching an inquiry into the decarbonisation of the UK economy and green finance, with the evidence addressing whether the Treasury's support packages to business should distinguish between companies based on how much they pollute.

The Committee is also inviting views on whether the Treasury should directly be funding green infrastructure projects as part of its coronavirus spending package and what policies it should change due to the pandemic to facilitate the transition towards meeting the net zero goal.

It follows an inquiry by the previous Treasury Committee into the decarbonisation of the economy and green finance in June 2019.

Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee said: “The Committee has received a great deal of evidence since launching this inquiry over a year ago but with the impact on the economy of coronavirus, clearly much has changed.

“The Climate Assembly’s report published last month said that post-lockdown steps to aid economic recovery should drive progress to achieve net zero. So now is the time to ask whether the government can seize the opportunity presented by the crisis to further green the economy to achieve net zero by 2050.

“Whether the level of HMT support should depend on how much companies pollute or if it should directly fund green infrastructure, are some of the issues that we would like evidence on.”

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