By Adam Vaughan
Sizewell B is a nuclear power station.
Chris Ratcliffe is a photographer.
The UK government refused to release a spreadsheet showing how much carbon emissions will be cut by individual measures under the Net Zero Strategy.
Ed Matthew at E3G says that withholding the document makes it hard for the public to understand the estimated impacts of the measures.
The publication of the government's Net Zero Strategy on 19 October was a key moment ahead of the COP26 climate summit, laying out in detail how the UK plans to reach its 2050 commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
What difference will the COP26 climate summit make?
Estimates of how much individual policies will cut emissions have been spelled out in previous blueprints for decarbonisation. The Net Zero Strategy did not provide a breakdown, which showed a lack of transparency that hampered independent scrutiny.
Government officials said that there was a spreadsheet with all the figures, but they wouldn't release it. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy refused a freedom of information request from New Scientist. The request was declined because it involves the disclosure of internal communications.
The BEIS FOI team says that public interest doesn't outweigh the need to keep communications private. They wrote in a letter that the net zero strategy contains appropriate detail for the public to engage with their decarbonisation proposals.
The UK is off track for its legally binding carbon targets for the 2020s and 2030s, a trajectory that the strategy claims it will correct. Matthew says the strategy doesn't provide enough detail to independently judge that. If BEIS are so confident in their calculations, why are they so scared of making them public? They can't be in charge of marking their own homework and have to make their calculations public.
Advisers warn that the UK risks missing its climate target.
The strategy shows top-level estimates of how much emissions will change between now and 2050 for different sectors. It doesn't break down individual measures like backing new hydrogen production or developing new small nuclear plants, both of which will be supported by hundreds of millions of pounds in public funding.
John Sauven says that ministers are asking customers to buy a product without seeing it first. He wants the government to release the numbers behind the plan and allow experts to kick the tires on it.
Estimates of how extensively various technologies will be employed and their impacts on greenhouse gas emissions in the UK are likely to be included in the document. There may be a mismatch between what the government says it will do and what it says it will do.
The Net Zero Strategy is the first of its kind from any major economy. It shows how we will transition to a green future.
New Scientist appealed the decision not to publish the document.
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