F EA T U R E

Closing the climate gap

ROB HARRISON and JOSIE WEXLER introduce a new report from Ethical Consumer to help identify how consumers, governments and companies can work together to help fix the climate crisis.

It is widely recognised that the next ten years will be critical in turning around global carbon emissions. As one of Ethical Consumer’s contributions to this process, we plan to produce an ‘Annual Climate Gap Report on Progress Towards Sustainable Consumer Lifestyles in the UK’. The 2021 Report, due for launch during Ethical Consumer Week on October 19th, should therefore be the first in a series. It aims to track the gap between our current combined consumption emissions and where they need to be by 2030.

The Climate Change Committee and our research The Climate Change Committee (CCC) was set up under the Climate Change Act 2008 to advise the UK government on decarbonisation. It is an independent body comprised mainly of economists and environmental experts and its main role is to report to Parliament annually on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is a bit like SAGE, the group of scientific advisors which has become well known during the pandemic, in that they both issue politely exasperated reports about the need to take urgent action in key areas.

The CCC’s 200-page reports have provided most of the data for three of the impact areas we are examining for this Report: Food, Transport and Heating. A core element in this project is therefore trying to convert the CCC’s work into something more digestible for ordinary consumers. For the fourth impact area, Consumer Goods, we have conducted our own research and extrapolated targets and campaigns from elsewhere. A key goal is to produce a simplified list of key actions for consumers, companies and governments too.

There are many roads up the mountain There is no single route to decarbonisation. We are using the ‘balanced scenario’ produced by the CCC for many of our targets because it is comprehensive, based on thorough upto-date research, and gives consumers an idea of the direction we need to be headed in. It is for this reason that we are describing this report as containing ‘science-based targets’ for consumers. But there are plenty of arguments to be had with it – in particular that it does not cut fast enough – and we discuss these in more detail in the longer online version of this report (see below). At the moment, however, while we are still such a long way from meeting even these targets, we feel that it makes sense to be using this in the first instance.

Key finding 1 We’re not moving fast enough The colour coding on the Summary Table opposite shows that, across three impact areas, Food, Heating, and Transport, carbon reduction is not moving quickly enough (orange).1 For the fourth area, Consumer Goods, it appears to be moving in the wrong direction and impacts are increasing (red). Indeed, for the eight target areas we looked at for which year-on-year data was available, none of these appeared to be moving fast enough.

This key message is both the most important and least important at the same time. It is most important because it is the key question we are seeking to answer, and least important because we are scarcely alone in making it.2

Key finding 2 A sustainable lifestyle is not scary The sustainable future mapped out by the Climate Change Committee (see below) for 2030 currently looks like it only requires quite modest changes to the way we live now. The summary table opposite lists all 12 actions consumers need to take to help make this target. Many of the main elements are starting to become familiar: cars and heating will need to be electrified and we’ll need to reduce meat, dairy and other consumption to some degree. We’re planning to publish some more work on further prioritising consumer actions later this year.

Key finding 3 The necessary political engagement work looks harder At Ethical Consumer, we have long recognised that the decisions that consumers make, and around climate change particularly, are so dependent on the frameworks that government and companies provide that it is unhelpful to look at consumer choices in isolation.3 Our Climate Gap Reports are therefore designed to feature key consumer actions alongside what companies and governments need to do in each specific area. This can give consumers a sense that they are part of something bigger as well as highlighting some key political campaigns that might be worth supporting.

It is the political work we need to do as citizens that looks harder here than the consumer actions. The low-carbon lifestyle carbon expert, Mike Berners-Lee, when asked about the degree to which individuals should think about balancing the need to cut their own emissions with the need to take political action, suggested a 60% to 40% split in favour of prioritising political action.4

It looks like UK citizens urgently need to build broad coalitions, exemplified by the Eating Better Alliance, across all of the key impact areas identified in this Report.5

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