Happy New Year to all supporters, let’s hope there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon……
Last year we asked supporters to consider joining a few related campaigns, mainly Zero Hour’s Climate and Nature Bill campaign and the National Emergency Briefing Campaign. For further discussion of the National Emergency Briefing see the blog written by Dave Waltham, retired Professor of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, Citizens’ Climate Education Observer at COP 26 and CCL member.
We also engaged with supporters on the way forward for CCL UK which is a work in progress, to which you can contribute further by joining us in our monthly meetings (3rd Tuesday 8 pm).
The Chair of CCL-EU, James Collis, has written a letter to members which summarises what happened in 2025 and what the CCL-EU group has been engaged in. An extract is given below…..
Our work has combined to include “Climate Dividends” in the EU legislation for extending Carbon Pricing. Whilst the interpretation is contested by the Commission, recent meetings with Parliamentarians and NGOs support the original intention and our own understanding.
The State of Climate Action (Oct 2025) report assessed global progress towards the 2030 targets needed for 1.5ºC. The carbon price indicator is classed as “in the right direction, [but] well off track” – estimated as needing to be 10x higher. This is unlikely to surprise most members. However, what is particularly striking is that of the remaining 44 metrics, over 60% would be directly positively influenced by higher carbon pricing (14 items strongly, 13 items nudged). This disproportionate impact is reinforced by research and models that continue to demonstrate the potency of pricing. Carbon pricing remains a unique and critical priority in the fight against climate change.
To implement effective pricing requires 3 factors: relevance to the current priorities, leadership from politicians, and support from trustworthy sources. We have seen these factors in Canada and Austria. Leadership from Catherine McKenna and Leonore Gewessler with support from environmental NGOs, unions, academics and economists amongst others. Such powerful policies necessarily attract attacks from the fossil fuel industry, states, and paid actors. What we have witnessed in 2025 is that without ongoing support such policies can be weakened or repealed. In the cases above, the original trusted sources did not stay engaged after implementation, as prices rose and opponents organised, public support declined.
We remain convinced that higher prices are an easy and fast way of overpowering existing fossil fuel subsidies. And that significant direct payments are a fair, popular and credible way for most countries to secure public support. With the ETS2 now delayed till 2028, all efforts in member states to prepare for ETS2 or encourage early floor pricing will enhance the likelihood of wider success and policy persistence.
CCL UK is currently waiting to see what opportunities will exist for suggesting a rebate on carbon pricing whether through an ETS extension or some other mechanism. In the meantime we will work on what our structure should be going forward and alerting supporters to other climate related campaigns.