The 2008 UK Climate Change Act is celebrating ten years. It is one of the earliest, most prominent examples of embedding the need to tackle climate change at the centre of public and private policy making. Today, Matthew Bell, Director in Frontier’s Public Policy Practice, spoke at University College London’s Energy Institute to commemorate the Act and consider lessons for the future. He pointed out that the biggest advantage of the Act has been to create a “regular drum beat” for action over the course of the last decade. While both Parliament and businesses regularly think about long term issues, they often have to prioritise short-term decisions. The Act translates long-term requirements into the decisions that need to be made today.

Matthew also pointed out areas where improvements could be made. In particular, improvements to ensure that government policy supported all parts of the economy, and not just the power sector, to transition to lower carbon outputs. He also spoke about how the Act could facilitate greater international collaboration between the UK and other countries on actions to tackle climate change. Finally, he discussed the need to ensure that actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were put on an equal footing with actions to adapt to the changes that are already happening. 

Frontier works widely for the public and private sectors on the opportunities and risks linked to climate change.

You can see Matthew's presentation here.

For more information please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000