Climate: UK needs to do more to help Brits change their behaviour

The British government must act more quickly and forcefully to encourage Britons to change their behavior if the country is to reach its 2050 carbon neutrality target, a parliamentary report warned Wednesday.

“The government’s current approach to driving behavioural change is grossly inadequate and will result in the UK failing to meet its carbon neutrality and environmental targets,” writes the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee in this report begun under the previous government of Boris Johnson.

While the state has put in place measures to help people adopt less carbon-intensive technologies, such as electric cars, “this effort must be replicated in other areas,” as one-third of the necessary drop in CO2 emissions by 2035 must come from households adopting more virtuous behaviors.

The report cites, for example, heating, food and mobility, with policies that favor clean transportation over airplanes and traditional cars, even though the transportation sector is the largest contributor to the country’s CO2 emissions.

Yet current government action shows a “reluctance to help people reduce their consumption of (high-carbon) products or services,” commented Kathryn Jane Parminter, chair of the committee and a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.

Yet “polls show that the public is ready to follow the government in this direction. People want to know what role they can play in the fight against climate change,” she added, quoted in a statement.

“The Prime Minister must urgently set out her vision of a country where low-carbon choices and behaviors can thrive,” she insisted.

The report recommends, among other things, the implementation of tax and financial incentives, the adaptation of regulations, and assistance for the most modest.

The report comes at a time when many environmental NGOs are putting pressure on the current Conservative government of Liz Truss to strengthen its climate policy, as they are concerned about some of the measures taken in recent weeks.

The new executive has thus decided to accelerate the exploitation of hydrocarbons, to freeze the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or to “revise” the way to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality in 2050 without harming growth.