Then this job came up and I’m very, very pleased to be doing it. I think this is week 10, possibly week 11, I haven’t quite worked that out. CB: Just coming back briefly to land-use and farming. CS: Yeah, in the immediate aftermath of the proposals for the new watchdog, we wrote a letter to Defra to say that actually we felt that it was important that it didn’t skirt around the climate issues. There are a host of things under that banner and then there’s the question of what needs to happen now. We’re in Sloane Square, which is, of course, one of the poorer areas of London [smiles], but when I look at some of the buildings next to where we are in Sloane Square right now, I quite often ask myself how will these buildings be heated? And there’s a great deal in that slug of the chart, so the emissions reductions that might come from those policies are at risk of under-delivery and we assess that in the chart. Jet stream: Is climate change causing more ‘blocking’ weather events? CB: OK. Can we make zero-carbon hydrogen given CCS [carbon capture and storage] has imperfect capture? Really stonking. So one is the statutory-advisor-to-parliament role that we talked about, particularly our annual progress report. We had a great deal of support, ministerially, for making some good low-carbon policies up there. We’ll come to that when we make the assessment. And, obviously, there’s a lot of work ahead of you before you can come back with formal advice on that question. And at least there is a framework there in the form of government having considered a strategy at least, towards it. So they’d be the top list. “The next ten years will be just as important as we continue to provide independent and impartial scrutiny and advice to ministers and parliamentarians on climate change; one of the most pressing issues of our time. In fact, we are considering whether we might have the first occasion of that this week, with the Plan B case, and that is an additional route for public challenge around all this, too. CB: So we’ve already seen the Scottish government – and I don’t know if you were involved at all in this process – but it’s revised its climate targets in light of Paris and it’s set a 90% cut by 2050 with a review built-in on whether and when net-zero can be met at reasonable cost. And, in fact, we are encouraging of this new body to have due consideration about how climate is impacting on the UK environment. And there’s a huge freedom to being able to do that when it comes to the request to look at the Paris Agreement. How much would you say of that is down to your personality, versus some sort of deliberate strategy? CS: Michael Gove says 2040. Coronavirus: What could lifestyle changes mean for tackling climate change? CS: It’s really difficult to say, but I think there’s some important milestones coming up next year that present a critical path for it. CS: Not concerned, but interested if we can respond to that consultation and make it better. Insights. Risks to delivery of policies to meet the UK’s fourth and fifth carbon budgets. Again, my earlier story about getting on to the cost-effective path and that being the best insurance policy for whatever comes next in the form of the statutory framework for this, these are the sectors that we really need government to start acting on. CB: OK. Are you concerned about the form of the UK environmental regulator? And the interesting aspect of both of those things is something that Lord Deben [CCC chair] cares deeply about, which is that they’re both really consumer issues, as well as being daft issues. So in answer to your question, I take a very optimistic view of what all of this could look like. But I think it’s really important to state as loudly as possible, what we are as an institution. But I’m really excited about the transport piece. What makes them daft is that the consumer suffers when policy doesn’t focus on the right things. Stark on the UK government’s Clean Growth Strategy, On his “daft list” of cost-effective action not being pursued, it is currently on track to achieve 93% or 95% of its carbon budgets, On raising the UK’s climate goals in light of the Paris Agreement, On the CCC’s forthcoming advice on aligning with the Paris Agreement, On the current voluntary approach to farming emissions, On the UK government’s “Road to Zero” transport strategy. What we want to do in the CCC is to inform government around that. I am new to the job. I hope we get that tone right, because I know how hard people in government try to address these issues and I know how hard some of the politicians try too, so although it is critical of some areas of government, I want to make sure that we support the people who are trying to do the right thing, too. So all of these things are slightly uncertain at the moment, but I’m sure it will be something we will try and do so that it lands in the right way and is influential in the right way for government in the first half of next year. You are welcome to reproduce unadapted material in full for non-commercial use, credited ‘Carbon Brief’ with a link to the article. Receive a Daily or Weekly summary of the most important articles direct to your inbox, just enter your email below. And I see a whole mix of technologies delivering that. So we might expect some under-delivery, let’s put it mildly, against those things that have been – where policies have been made – or intentions have been set. So I think, in combination, those two things present, over the next two or three years actually, quite a good opportunity to refresh some of this, to offer better advice and for government to respond to that. We’re going to have to think about what the appropriate level of the target should be in 2050, for example. There’s more in the consenting pipeline – onshore wind – there’s more in the consenting pipeline in Scotland than there is in operation at the moment. And, indeed, I hope I’m wrong, in the right way, because I think you can be mega-optimistic about how the future should look. Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has welcomed the appointment of Chris Stark, the CCC’s new Chief Executive. It’s the area that I knew least about coming into the role, so I’ve been reading a lot about it and it’s dynamite, actually, the stuff that we produce. Things like worrying trends in emissions outside the power and waste sectors, ambition being set without any policy to back it up, progress going backwards fast in areas like energy efficiency. There’s this other hat that we wear which is as the independent advisor to government and that’s the hat we’ll be wearing when we do the Paris work. Let’s hope not. I wanted to set up a Twitter account, it was one of the first things I did when I arrived. And I think in amongst all that there is a really good model for how this could work in the future. Net Zero Playbook: Mitie publishes guide to corporate decarbonisation, World's 'most powerful' floating wind turbine installed on floating foundation, Pipeline to 2050: The government must deliver an ambitious, harmonised heat strategy, Water industry unveils multi-billion pound 2030 net zero vision, Government targets two million new UK green jobs by 2030. Obviously, that needs to be a major focus for UK adaptation efforts. We are 10 this year also, so 2008 feels like a long time ago, and this institution has lasted pretty well over that decade. The other goal that we want to try and – goal’s not the right word – the other point to be influential is in the post-CAP framework. 18 December 2019 2020 must be the year of climate action. So we are pretty agnostic in the CCC, but we’re quite keen to look at it. I am an optimist, so I believe we could do that in further sectors. So this is a kind of curious situation, that we know the world will have to decarbonise. SW1W 9SZ, Lord Deben welcomes appointment of new Chief Executive, Chris Stark, Sustainable Health Equity: Achieving a Net Zero UK (UCL). My career is, [I] based the first 10 years of it in Whitehall, and then most recently in the Scottish government. So I just was curious if you’d actually started that list? CB: …but is there anything that you can say into that debate at the moment, in advance of that report coming out? It’s enormously important I think today, to have that ability to speak directly. Without answering your question directly, because we haven’t finished the work, we are going to look at that question of sustainable supply, and we will review our modelled assumptions about it, so you’re going to have to park that, I’m afraid, until we’ve produced the work.