The UK has no credible policies to remain on track to hit net zero in the maritime industry by 2050, but can still play a valuable global role in pushing for faster decarbonisation, according to a government watchdog.
In a highly critical report, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) said progress has been slow to establish a strategy for full decarbonisation for shipping.
Despite domestic failings, it said the UK could still play a significant role in pushing through reforms at the International Maritime Organization to strengthen global decarbonisation targets.
“Overall, the UK has lost its clear global leadership position on climate action, although examples of leadership do remain, such as research and international efforts on aviation and shipping,” said the watchdog’s latest report.
The UK has set legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, including within shipping. The committee, which issues regular reports to chart the country’s progress towards reaching that goal, said the plans require emissions from domestic shipping and the UK’s share of international shipping to fall by around 22% by 2035 on 2019 levels.
The government published its Clean Maritime plan in 2019, outlines the UK’s path to zero emissions shipping. An industry consultation about the strategy needed to hit the target by 2050 at the latest closed in October last year and the government is still analysing the findings.
“Little has changed in the last year regarding policy for the shipping sector,” said the CCC. “In 2023, the government must publish its response to the Course to Zero consultation and embed it in the updated Clean Maritime Plan.”
Without an update, “there are currently no credible policies in place to meet the required emissions reduction” needed by the mid-2030s to hit key targets, it said.
The UK’s plans are more ambitious than the IMO’s current policy to cut maritime emissions by half by 2050 based on a 2008 baseline.
Britain is part of a group of countries, including the US, Canada and European Union states, pushing IMO members to agree to net zero or zero greenhouse gas emissions from shipping over the next 25 years.
TradeWinds reported on Wednesday that a working group putting together a draft agreement for a key meeting next month was split over the economic measures needed for full decarbonisation.
The UK hosted the COP26 summit in 2021, at which more than 20 countries signed the Clydebank Declaration calling for a goal of at least six green shipping corridors by the mid-2020s.
The CCC called on the government to continue reporting progress on the corridors.
Failure to act
“The failure to act decisively in response to the energy crisis and build on the success of hosting COP26 means that the UK has lost its clear global climate leadership while game-changing interventions from the US and Europe, which will turbocharge growth of renewables, are leaving the UK behind,” said Lord Deben (John Gummer), a former Conservative Party environment secretary who chairs the committee.
A government spokesperson said: “The UK is cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country and attracted billions of investment into renewables, which now account for 40% of our electricity,” adding that the country has “invested billions to kick-start new industries like carbon capture and floating offshore wind”.
