Key climate schemes trumpeted as part of the government’s net zero strategy are likely to fail, according to its own advisers.
Ministers were told before last week’s “green day” announcements that the policies were not realistic.
The leaked 10-page advisory document drawn up by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials assessed the “delivery risk” and “delivery confidence” of each of the net zero measures proposed by Defra, which is run by Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary. Each was assessed with a traffic-light scale of green, amber and red.
Of 44 policies, 21 were marked as red/amber, meaning officials expect them to fail in their aims. These encompass 85% of Defra’s proposed emissions savings.
A further 18 policies were marked as amber or amber/green. Only five were marked green, two of which disappeared from the final “carbon budget delivery plan” document published on Thursday.
