Carbon Emissions: Impact Assessments

(asked on 30th April 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Table 16 of the Impact Assessment for the Carbon Budget Order 2021, published on 16 April 2021, if she will publish an annual undiscounted table of the costs and benefits of each option.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 8th May 2024

The Impact Assessment compared the costs and benefits of meeting net zero in 2050 for different options for the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget, including the level recommended by the Climate Change Committee which has since been voted into law. Costs and benefits were aggregated over 2020-2050 to reflect uncertainty around the precise annual profile. Given this uncertainty, the table below sets out the undiscounted costs and benefits over 5 yearly increments.

Table 1. Costs and benefits breakdown by sixth carbon budget options, Core pathway only

Costs and benefits relative to Option 1 (Do Nothing baseline of 2100MtCO2e)
(£bn, undiscounted)

2021-2025

2026-2030

2031-2035

2036-2040

2041-2045

2046-2050

Costs (incl. capital & finance)

Option 2, Looser, 1105Mt

34

88

160

217

277

381

Option 3, CCC level, 965Mt

37

91

186

256

309

395

Option 4, Tighter, 865Mt

38

94

206

301

328

389

Benefits (incl. fuel & emissions savings)

Option 2, Looser, 1105Mt

2

68

182

357

526

739

Option 3, CCC level, 965Mt

4

71

168

401

554

757

Option 4, Tighter, 865Mt

12

98

174

387

540

762

Reticulating Splines