Zero Hour’s Ambition Gap report

The Climate Change Committee is doing a great job highlighting the delivery gap, but we need to talk about the ambition gap whilst there’s still time to do something about it.

For details of the Parliamentary launch event for MPs and Lords on Tues 18th Oct with Caroline Lucas MP, click here.

Are you an MP looking for a concise, objective and totally independent assessment of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy (NZS)? Or a constituent—assured by your MP that the climate crisis is fully in hand—but don’t have the necessary information to hand to respond?

Then Zero Hour’s report—‘Net zero: The ambition gap’—is for you


With support from our scientist supporters, Zero Hour has set out the key areas in which the NZS falls short, referring to the relevant science. The report is brief, visual and links to well-explained articles on key science that we need to understand. It’s intended as a reference—and a toll—for politicians, journalists and campaigners.

There’s a lot of focus on how the UK is off track from important climate targets, but these ‘carbon budgets’ were mostly set years ago, pre-dating the UK’s newer, more ambitious aim of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. What’s more, they were devised using only a 50% chance of success.

Download report

Even a few years ago, there wasn’t much public appetite for the changes necessary to decarbonise the UK economy, and our carbon budgets always reflected some compromise. But the planet—and the science—has moved on, as has public desire to treat the climate crisis with the seriousness it deserves.

This means not only updating the UK’s emissions reductions targets, but also acknowledging the fundamental role of nature in regulating our climate—a role largely overlooked by the NZS.

We can’t limit global warming to 1.5°C without protecting and restoring nature. Addressing one without considering the other risks making things worse. Our report explains why these twin crises must be tackled together.

Recording of last month’s online launch event

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