JJWalsh (@jjwalsh.bsky.social)

CCC: Net-zero will protect UK from fossil-fuel price shocks The “cost” of cutting UK emissions to net-zero is less than the cost of a single fossil-fuel price shock, according to a new report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC). Moreover, a net-zero economy would be almost completely protected from fossil-fuel price spikes in the future, says the government’s climate advisory body. The report is being published amid surging oil and gas prices after the US and Israel attacked Iran, which has triggered chaos on international energy markets. It builds on the CCC’s earlier advice on the seventh “carbon budget”, which found that it would cost the UK less than 0.2% of GDP per year to reach its net-zero target. In the new report, the CCC sets out for the first time a full cost-benefit analysis of the UK’s net-zero target, including the cost of clean-energy investments, lower fossil-fuel bills, the health benefits of cleaner air and the avoided climate damages from cutting emissions. It finds that the country’s legally binding target to reach “net-zero emissions” by 2050 will bring benefits worth an average of £110bn per year to the UK from 2025-2050, with a total “net present value” of £1,580bn. The CCC states that its new report responds to... https://www.carbonbrief.org/ccc-net-zero-will-protect-uk-from-fossil-fuel-price-shocks/