The UK is backsliding on its climate commitments: greenlighting Britain’s first coal mine in 30 years, failing to stop sewage being dumped in its waters, and doing too little on renewable energy
Jamie Wignall
Britain's environmental achievements are dwarfed by comparable European states. Half of Germany’s energy is from renewables, Portugal’s is 63%, and France's is 91%.
July 2023 saw two significant developments in the global battle against climate change.
Firstly, southern Europe sweltered in the kind of heatwave that unfortunately has become the norm in recent years, amplifying fears of rising global temperatures.
Secondly, Sultan Al Jaber, president of the COP28 UN climate summit in the UAE in November outlined his long-awaited plan of action. This included, “fast-tracking,” the transition to a low CO2 world, phasing down the use of fossil fuels, and tripling global renewable energy capacity.
Such developments might have been alarming for the UK government. Like southern Europe it too suffered a fierce heatwave last summer, causing over 25,000 wildfires and 3,000 deaths. Moreover, it is making only limited headway in the kind of action urged by Al Jaber.
A road sign reads "Extreme Heat, Plan your journey, Carry water", warning motorists about the heatwave forecast for July 18 and 19, on the M11 motorway north of London on July 17, 2022.
Indeed, the Conservative-led government has repeatedly been criticised for backsliding on climate commitments: greenlighting Britain’s first coal mine in 30 years, doing little to prevent a huge upsurge in sewage being dumped in the UK’s rivers and seas, and doing too little on renewable energy.
The Conservative-led government has repeatedly been criticised for backsliding on climate commitments: greenlighting Britain's first coal mine in 30 years, failing to stop sewage being dumped in the UK's rivers and seas, and doing too little on renewable energy.
A photograph taken on January 18, 2022 shows the river Thames leading to Battersea Power Station during sunset in south London.
Indeed, to underline the point, soon after Al Jaber's announcement, the government's own climate advisors warned that a new National Adaptation Plan launched by London did not contain any substantial new money or legislation and that Britain was not treating climate change as a national priority.
With other states in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere taking climate change more seriously in the legislation introduced and investments being made, is Britain lagging far behind others in the global climate battle?
History of pollution
As the first state to fully industrialise, Britain also became one of the earliest mass polluters. Some early efforts were made to regulate the industry and limit the environmental impact, such as the 1875 Public Health Act.
Still, the guiding philosophy of many 19th and early 20th century governments was a pro-business liberalism that wanted to limit state intervention. As a result, Britain became one of the most polluted countries in the world.
There was gradual improvement in the 20th century, with environmental disasters like London's 1952 'Great Smog' prompting more regulation, notably the 1956 and 1968 Clean Air Acts.
Even so, when Britain joined the EU's precursor, the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, it was quickly labelled the "dirty man of Europe," because its environmental standards were far lower than fellow western European states.
It was the only EEC member without pollution control for cars, power stations or farming. It also tried to avoid EEC rules on pesticide controls and bathing water directives.
As the first state to fully industrialise, Britain also became one of the earliest mass polluters. The guiding philosophy of consecutive governments was pro-business liberalism which wanted to limit state intervention. As a result, Britain became one of the most polluted countries in the world.
However, under pressure from Brussels, in the form of repeated fines, London was forced to clean up its act. A raft of EC directives was introduced from the 1970s into the 1990s that made Britain improve air quality, regulate polluters and clean up its rivers and beaches.
Traffic pass a sign indicating the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) near Hanger Lane in west London on July 22, 2023.
When Britain debated whether to leave the EU in the referendum campaign of 2016, many environmentalists were among the most passionate supporters of continued membership. Caroline Lucas, then the UK's only Green Party MP, stated in the Guardian that "Britons have the EU to thank for (many of the) protections we have in place. It's EU standards on air pollution that are forcing the government to clean up its act."
While Britain's decision to leave the EU in 2016 and its withdrawal from the bloc four years later played some role in a decline in environmental standards, it was far from the only factor.
Even so, there is a perception that in the last few years, Britain has slid back to its old polluting self now it is no longer regulated by Brussels. This caricature is only partly accurate, however.
Britons have the EU to thank for (many of the) protections we have in place. It's EU standards on air pollution that are forcing the government to clean up its act.
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP
Firstly, even when it was in the EU, Britain repeatedly breached EU rules on air quality in most of its cities, which were among the worst performing in Europe. Britain similarly failed to meet legally binding EU clean water targets for its rivers.
Regulation from Brussels may have given Britain a nudge in the 1970s and 80s to improve standards, but London still repeatedly flouted its rules.
More serious steps made after 2016
On the other hand, the UK, after 2016, should not be dismissed as a climate change philistine, as some serious effort has been made to address the issue.
For example, the capital, London, introduced an Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in 2019 to keep heavy polluting vehicles out of the city centre to improve air quality and is scheduled to expand across all of Greater London in August 2023.
Plans are also afoot to connect the UK to Morocco's burgeoning solar power industry via a huge £18bn undersea cable.
There has been a gradual move away from fossil fuel energy usage, with the UK's longest-ever run of coal-free power generation recorded in 2020 (68 days), while nearly 36% of Britain's electricity came from renewables in 2022.
Yet these achievements are dwarfed by comparable European states.
The UK is far behind the green curve
Half of Germany's energy is from renewables, while Portugal's is 63%. France generates 91% of its power from non-fossil fuel sources, though much of this is nuclear.
Even China — widely regarded as one of the world's worst polluters — generates nearly 34% of its energy from renewable sources, close to the UK's number, and is investing heavily in the sector, despite fossil fuel consumption remaining high.
Britain's environmental achievements are dwarfed by comparable European states. Half of Germany's energy is from renewables, while Portugal's is 63%. France generates 91% of its power from non-fossil fuel sources, though much of this is nuclear.
Unfortunately, Britain's lack of renewable usage is not an outlier, and the return of its reputation as the dirty man of Europe comes from a host of other developments.
Among the most notorious has been a sewage crisis that saw raw sewage pumped into rivers 400,000 times in 2020, a 37% increase on the year before. In the same year, the pressure group Surfers Against Sewage charged that sewage was pumped onto British beaches 2,700 times.
— Surfers Against Sewage (@sascampaigns) May 2, 2022
The situation seems not to have improved in the intervening years, and the British press frequently shows images of bathers having to wrestle with polluted beaches or vile sewage-filled rivers.
Similarly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of regressing on previous climate commitments. While Britain attempted to place itself at the centre of the fight against climate change when it hosted COP26 in 2021, since then, London has made some contradictory moves. These include approving both a new coal mine and new licences for North Sea oil and gas production.
Delegates pass a sign for the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021, during the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland on November 2, 2021
Brexit repercussions
So why have Britain's environmental standards slipped? As Lucas alluded to, Brexit is one explanation. After leaving the EU the UK government pledged to scrap 4,000 of the EU's laws. While that was later revised to 600, key environmental protections were among those scheduled to be removed, including some regulating air pollution.
As well as removing existing EU laws, leaving the bloc has meant Britain has not been compelled to keep up with new environmental standards being introduced by Brussels, allowing London to fall behind.
For example, in 2021 the EU forbade many single-use plastics while Britain, in its own equivalent law, permitted a long list of exceptions that will likely ensure these pollutants remain far more prevalent in the UK.
As well as removing existing EU laws, leaving the bloc has meant Britain has not been compelled to keep up with new environmental standards being introduced by Brussels, allowing London to fall behind.
But the fallout from Brexit does not explain the sewage crisis, nor the poor record on renewable energy, as both were present before 2016. Indeed, the European Commission took the UK to court in 2012 over the level of sewage water companies were allowed to dump in rivers.
The role of privitsation
In fact, most experts agree that the sewage problem boils down to how Britain's water companies were privatised. England and Wales (but not Scotland) are one of very few countries in the world where water utilities have been privatised and the process from the 1980s has left a system that receives too little investment and regulation.
The current government has made the situation worse by cutting regulation further, with the energy secretary from 2014-16, one Liz Truss, reducing the amount of surveillance on companies dumping raw sewage. Rather like the 19th-century liberals, successive governments' pro-business policies have come at an environmental cost.
Lack of leadership
Related to this has been a lack of leadership on climate change. While investment has been made in green energy measures, environmental policy has slipped down Sunak's agenda. Some speculate that this is partly down to Sunak's weakness within his own Conservative party, where there remains a small but vocal lobby arguing against climate change action.
Traffic comes to a halt behind Just Stop Oil climate activists marching slowly in Parliament Square in London on July 21, 2023.
The UK's climate advisors, the Climate Change Committee reported in June of multiple failures on home insulation, electric vehicle charging, renewable power generation and decarbonising industry.
In contrast, neighbouring France has established a ministry of ecological transition, charged with training civil servants to be more ecological, and overseeing a raft of new measures to make the French economy more sustainable.
A sign of the contrast will be seen next year when the Seine River in Paris will host multiple water sports events at the 2024 Olympics following a £1.2bn cleanup operation. In contrast, London's Thames River remains an unpleasant brown dumping ground for waste.
A sign of the contrast will be seen next year when the Seine River in Paris will host multiple water sports events at the 2024 Olympics following a £1.2bn cleanup operation. In contrast, London's Thames River remains an unpleasant brown dumping ground for waste.
A combined sewer overflow, sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff discharged onto a beach at Boscombe, Dorset. The untreated wastewater was discharged onto English and Welsh coasts on 2,900 occasions last year.
Britain not alone
However, while the British government is rightly criticised for its backsliding on climate change commitments and the erosion of some environmental standards, it is far from alone.
In May the World Meteorological Organization which, in 2020 predicted there was a 20% chance of world temperatures rising by 1.5C within five years, placed the probability at 66% by 2027. This is not just down to Britain not being on track to meet its targets.
Data from Climate Action Tracker shows that Britain's greenhouse gas emissions have been steadily falling since the 1990s, but are still forecast to be 50 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over what it pledged to reach by 2030.
The EU as a bloc is fairing a little better, even if some of its states like France are advancing, with Germany performing surprisingly badly, 200 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its target.
The US is in a similar position, 1,000 megatonnes off target, a proportionate amount to Britain and the EU given its population. In fact, no heavily industrialised state is currently on track to reduce emissions to a sustainable level.
While some like China, Egypt and Morocco are performing relatively well, and are on track to reach their pledged targets, as developing economies they signed up to less strict goals in the first place and are still way off reaching the level forecast to keep temperatures below 1.5C.
Pedestrians walk on the Southbank of the River Thames with the Tower 42 (L) and the 20 Fenchurch Street nicknamed "The Walkie-Talkie", on the background, in London, on April 17, 2023.
Britain may, therefore, not actually be much 'dirtier' than other industrial states. In some areas, like reducing emissions, it is doing comparatively well, while in other environmental areas like river cleanliness and renewables, it is far behind its European peers.
What appears to frustrate many, such as the Climate Change Committee is not that Britain is especially bad relative to other states, even if the sewage crisis is highly embarrassing, but that it could be doing so much better.
As a wealthy county with a public seemingly committed to environmental issues, more leadership from the top would likely be supported. Indeed, the opposition Labour party seems to be banking on this, with leader Keir Starmer pledging to, "throw everything," at making Britain net zero on emissions and overhauling the UK's energy systems if elected.
Such action will be needed soon if London wants to avoid being permanently viewed as 'the dirty man of Europe' once again.
