‘Mission Zero’ – the Independent Review of Net Zero was published on Friday 3rd January 2023 by MP Chris Skidmore. The 340-page report makes calls for 25 key actions by 2025 and 129 recommendations all to seize opportunities from creating a green economy.
The Independent review was commissioned in September 2022 to find ways the UK can deliver its own Net Zero targets in a manner that was more affordable, more efficient, pro-business and pro-enterprise. The recommendations presented in the new report were based on one of the largest engagement exercises on Net Zero in the UK, with more than 50 roundtables and 1800 responses to call for evidence submissions from stakeholders including businesses, organisations, industries, and communities from across the UK.
Regarding biomass, the report stated that,
“Sustainable biomass and other low carbon fuels play an important role in the net zero transition as a flexible resource to replace fossil fuels. However, stringent sustainability criteria are needed to guard against adverse impacts on a finite global supply and government will need to identify priority uses to provide investment certainty”.
The report calls for more effort to encourage sustainable UK biomass production and the need for Government to publish its Biomass Strategy as soon as possible. Also, the Government should publish a
“Land Use Framework, alongside an analysis of incentives for land managers to grow biomass and a plan for how to improve those incentives”.
The report makes calls for other key actions and recommendations including;
- delivering cleaner, greener homes,
- phasing out gas boilers to be replaced by heat pumps,
- providing a stable environment for businesses to plant and invest,
- reviewing incentives for investment in decarbonisation,
- develop and implement a 10-year delivery roadmap for scaling up of hydrogen production,
- accelerating renewables (onshore wind and solar),
- reforms to double down on UK’s nuclear baseload requirement,
- accelerating the end of oil and gas routine flaring from 2030 to 2025,
- R&D and financing strategy for enabling the Net Zero pathway to 2050.
Net Zero Review
The report sends out a clear message that “Net Zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century”, and any further delays in taking actions to decarbonise the economy poses a significant risk.
“The Government’s Net Zero Strategy is still the right pathway and the policies outlined in the strategy should go ahead”.
Hence, climate actions should be done sooner to gain larger benefits of decarbonising the economy.
Read the full report here.
