Earlier in 2019, the UK Treasury Select Committee launched an inquiry into the decarbonisation of the UK economy and green finance, set out to scrutinise the role of the Treasury department, regulators and financial services firms in supporting the UK Government’s climate change commitments, and examining the economic potential of decarbonisation for the UK economy.
Tim Jackson submitted evidence; published in early September. He responded in particular to questions 4 and 6 in the call, namely:
- What is HMT’s current strategy, and approach to, UK decarbonisation, and is it fit for purpose?
- How should HMT’s approach evolve to ensure the Government meets the legally binding carbon budgets (and the net-zero targets, if applicable)?
- With some additional relevance for question 3 (on ensuring a just transition) and question 7 (on the spending review).
Making the case for early ‘deep’ carbon reductions when it comes to remaining within a fair carbon budget for the UK, the evidence draws on and summarises the findings from three recent CUSP working papers addressing i) the adequacy of the UK’s carbon targets; ii) the modelling challenge associated with ‘deep decarbonisation’; and iii) the measurement of prosperity.
In the light of the challenges associated with navigating the transition to a net zero economy, and in addition to the recommendations made in the paper regarding the Treasury model, it is suggested that there is an urgent need to explore alternatives to the dominant outcome measure of the GDP through which lens the Treasury sees its role and discharges its responsibilities. “As the New Zealand example has shown, there are distinct advantages to locating a broader set of measures of wellbeing inside Treasury”.
This post also appeared on the CUSP website.
