According to research from WWF and Vivid Economics, this year’s Budget allowed far less for new policies to tackle climate change than those focused on measures that could push up emissions.

WWF is calling on the UK government to apply a Net Zero Test to all spending and taxation decisions in Budgets and Spending Reviews to ensure that the overall package puts us on track to meet climate and nature goals.

The Net Zero Test, which will include a budget tagging tool, which highlights tax and spending on green policies and polluting ones in Budgets and Spending Reviews and spotlights policies that will increase emissions and an emissions assessment tool, which will estimate the overall impact of Budgets and Spending Reviews and assess if they’re compatible with a net-zero pathway.

Figures from the new tool show that new climate tackling policies and announcements in the March Budget equate to only £145m, while policies that will drive up emissions – like the
fuel duty freeze – equate to over £40bn.

The tool also highlighted a clear ambition gap – it would cost less than 1 per cent of GDP per year to build a clean, safe, prosperous future for the UK, but climate change mitigation measures in the Budget added up to just 0.01 per cent of GDP the WWF said.

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