HoC ‘Six select committees of the House of Commons (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Environmental Audit; Housing, Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology; Transport; and Treasury) have today announced plans to hold a Citizens’ Assembly on combatting climate change and achieving the pathway to net zero carbon emissions.

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee

The announcement of a Citizens’ Assembly, likely to begin in the Autumn, follows the Prime Minister’s commitment last week to an ambitious new target for the UK to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The Citizens’ Assembly is designed to explore views on the fair sharing of potential costs of different policy choices and is intended to provide input to future select committee activity and will inform political debate and Government policy making.

Chair’s comments

Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said:

“The Prime Minister’s commitment to the UK setting a net-zero target for carbon emissions by 2050 is welcome; the job now is to get on with mapping out the path to achieve it. This isn’t a challenge for just one Parliament, one political party, or one generation; to achieve net-zero by 2050 we need to build cross-party and cross-generational support for the short-medium-and-long term policies and actions needed to deliver it.

“Net-zero presents the UK with a golden opportunity to deliver environmental and health benefits, new jobs, sustainable green industries and export opportunities. But the UK won’t play its part in helping to save our planet or enable us to reap the benefits unless there is a co-ordinated, cross-departmental effort from the Government, together with buy-in from the public for the measures needed to achieve this ambitious goal.

“The Citizens Assembly announced by six Select Committees today will give an opportunity for public input into the climate change debate. It will also help to provide committees with a clearer insight into the public’s views on the fair sharing of the potential costs of different policy choices and how we can best meet them It’s clear that meeting the net-zero target will involve all parts of our economy, from, for example, heating our homes, electric vehicles and decarbonising transport, to energy infrastructure, green finance, and low-carbon goods and services. I hope the Citizens Assembly will demonstrate that, when all is considered, there is strong public support – even demand –  for the Government to take the action necessary to deliver the benefits of net zero by 2050.”

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