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UTILITY WEEK | NOVEMBER 2020 | 19 Policy & Regulation shows that a majority are sceptical about whether the government's target of net zero emissions can be achieved by 2050. While the wide-ranging polling data shows overall support for the goal of decar- bonisation, 58 per cent of those surveyed said it was "unlikely" the target will be achieved by 2050. And ordinary members of the public, distracted by pressing everyday concerns even if they are interested in climate change, can hardly be expected to devote the same attention to the issues as the assembly did. As well as a huge amount of information, its members were given the opportunity to grill high quality experts about it over the course of several weekends. The assembly members were aware of how privileged they had been in terms of the information they received, says Watson: "They are very keen that lessons are learnt for trying to take the rest of the population with us. We can't put the whole population through a climate assembly but more empha- sis needs to be put on varied sorts of commu- nication tailored to particular issues." The main lesson from the assembly is that information is key to getting people on side. Watson continues: "It was a dialogue between ordinary members of the public and those experts. They had more access to really detailed and concise information and the opportunity to interrogate that information than ordinary members of the public, but they were members of the public who had a standing start. "You could say that interrogation could have gone a number of ways, including concluding it's something not to be worried about. "You had people who were not very well informed. However by the end of the pro- cess, they had clearly become much better informed and were collectively willing to support propositions they wouldn't have thought about previously before they came into the assembly. "They did that on the basis of much better understanding of where we stand on issues and what we need to do about it. The watch- word for the future is information, informa- tion, information." And encouraging this kind of engagement will become more pressing as decarbonisa- tion extends into everyday matters like heat- ing and transport, Gallacher says. "Policy decisions are being taken that have not been communicated and that have quite signifi- cant impact on people's lives: we need to make sure we get information out to people." The relatively lukewarm level of sup- port for CCS (carbon, capture and storage), which was even lower than that for nuclear power, should also have prompted some head scratching among policymakers and the industry. Nearly half (46 per cent) of assembly members disagreed that nuclear power should be part of the net zero generation mix; 34 per cent supported nuclear. This dim view, echoed in the Bright Blue polling, might be expected given the nuclear industry's chequered safety history world- wide, which viewers of last year's Sky prime time hit series Chernobyl were reminded about. But CCS proved to be an even bigger turn-off among the assembly. Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Cli- mate Change, admitted at the assembly's launch that this was the one area where its conclusions were at odds with those of his organisation, which sees CCS as a key tool for achieving the decarbonisation of heavily emitting sectors, like industry. More than half (56 per cent) of assembly members disagreed that fossil fuels with CCS should be part of the UK's generation mix for getting to net zero, dwarfing the 22 per cent who believed that they ought to be. The assembly took an even more jaundiced view towards the Direct Air Capture method of CCS, which will be disappointing news for enthusiast Dominic Cummings. Whitehead suggests that the complexity of the issues surrounding CCS were difficult to tease out in a forum like the assembly. Luke Warren, chief executive of the Car- bon Capture and Storage Association, is "not hugely surprised that people's preferences were nature based and renewable over engi- neered solutions" given that the assembly had little time to digest all the detail. But he acknowledges that the report points to a need for those involved in the technology to better communicate its benefits. But Parr argues that the assembly's con- clusions should "absolutely" give ministers pause for thought about its push to roll out CCS clusters across the UK. He thinks that its members were right to be sceptical about how CO2 can be safely disposed of over the very long time scales that the gas will need to be trapped in the ground. "If you want to go where there is public consent, go with renewable options." The Climate Assembly UK has done its work by showing what the public may swal- low on the road to net zero: the acid test will be whether the government is listening David Blackman, policy correspondent "It's not a political party doing this, it's a representative group of the population." Alan Whitehead, Labour shadow energy minister "The Climate Assembly was very keen to emphasise points about fairness Doug Parr, head of policy, Greenpeace UK "Perhaps because people are now seeing the effects of climate change, you don't have degree of scepticism you had a few years ago." Audrey Gallacher , deputy chief executive, Energy UK Innovating for net zero will be explored in more depth at Utility Week Live, running online from November 24-26. To find out more and register for your FREE pass visit: www.utilityweeklive.co.uk/UWLO