Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a new Cabinet Committee on Climate Change which will coordinate and drive decarbonisation and adaptation and resilience action across Government, including how ‘net-zero’ is achieved.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has flagged up the launch of the new Committee in its recent market consultation exercise to gather feedback from the market prior to formally publishing an Invitation to Tender for the BEIS Climate Services for a Net-Zero resilient World contract which is worth an estimated £5.7 million.

The aim of the ITT is to invite potential suppliers to set out their proposal to deliver climate services for the BEIS - the overall aim is to ensure that BEIS strategic priorities on climate change are informed by up-to-date policy-relevant evidence and scientific advice, where climate science evidence is required to inform decisions.

The Department’s strategic priorities include:

• Its domestic Net Zero efforts;
• Energy infrastructure, housing and engagement with local authorities on local climate action plans;
• Bilateral and multilateral interactions on climate change;
• Activities within international fora such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Outlining the policy context, BEIS said it requires a major new climate services programme which will provide up-to-date policy-relevant evidence and scientific advice.

In the international context, from November 2021, the UK will hold the Presidency of the international climate negotiations at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) which takes place in Glasgow, and over the following year will be running major legacy campaigns on Nature, Adaptation and Resilience, and Energy Transitions among others.

Ahead of COP26 in November 2021, countries are expected to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions, representing an increase in global mitigation ambition. Following this, global progress towards meeting the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement will be assessed under the Global Stocktake in 2023, ahead of the 2025 NDC update under the Paris Agreement’s ratchet mechanism.

According to BEIS, the IPCC’s timetable for producing Reports has been significantly delayed by COVID-19, meaning that important evidence to inform these processes at a national and international level may not be available at the right time.

BEIS market consultation paper states:

“These milestones and delays point to the need for a well-communicated and robust evidence base to support the UK’s climate change objectives in a range of international settings.

“The provision outlined here will provide a comprehensive package of new analysis to inform this process, by addressing key knowledge gaps, and translating and communicating this evidence internationally to build a positive environment for science and evidence under the negotiations, in support of UK international climate objectives.”

“A comprehensive climate services programme will be well placed to inform decarbonisation work within the UK, including advice for future Carbon Budgets. The service will also provide relevant advice and briefing to support the climate science team in answering Parliamentary Questions and correspondence, advising Ministers, and in their work providing technical and scientific advice to a wide range of policy teams across BEIS.”

According to BEIS the UK is increasingly seeing the impacts of climate change, which will worsen as global temperatures continue to rise.

In particular, the BEIS Climate Services for a Net-Zero resilient World contract contract is aimed at delivering:

• Information on projected extreme heat and cold in England to inform decision-making processes around domestic, public sector, and local authority energy efficiency decisions in buildings, including fuel poverty;
• Information on projected climate impacts to water flows to underpin the Environment Agency’s work in permitting and regulating water-intensive energy decarbonisation technologies
• Climate science support to Ofgem and energy network companies in developing strategies to build resilience to climate change

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