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Hutton Series Priorities

Category 2: Government, Policy & Global Cohesion

GOVERNMENT, POLICY & GLOBAL COHESION

Governments must provide leadership, as well as policy decisions that have a long-term sustainability focus. Governments need to provide confidence for investors and encourage commercial investment through a well-connected public and private sector, operating through targeted investments, building on earlier public sector pilot investment successes. The UK should lead by example on zero-C actions, but these actions must ultimately be adopted globally.

  1. Annual Climate target budget: The state of investment progress in actions and achievements against climate change targets must be presented alongside the UK and Devolved Administration’s annual budgets. 

  2. Taxes and incentives: Selected taxes coupled with regulation will include incentives from government and the finance sector for industry to adapt to new ways of working and for people to change the ways in which they value goods. 

  3. Carbon tax: Create a fair carbon tax to be coupled with regulation. Introduce progressive pricing, and taxing on a global scale with regional application modelled along the lines of the Baker-Schultz plan. At the same time, shield those who are least able to afford the costs of the transition to net zero. 

  4. Levies on oil and gas: Implement a programme of incentives and levies on oil, gas and coal companies to reduce production by as much as 10% p.a. year on year. State-owned companies produce ~80% of the world’s oil and gas, and incentives to replace revenue will need to be found to accelerate the process of decommissioning oil, gas and coal production.

  5. Circular economy: Limit disaggregation and encourage full-cycle analysis to build a circular economy, where the various cogs are connected, rapid, workable, accountable, and capable of accelerating change through investment. 

  6. Supply chains: Governments, public bodies and industry must ensure that their move to zero-C includes not only their own activities, but must also ensure that their supply chains follow good environmental practice and that their products achieve net zero-C.