Weaker energy efficiency standards for consumer goods after Brexit could mean products that are more expensive to run are dumped in the UK, it has been warned.
In a briefing on the implications of leaving the European Union, the Committee on Climate Change said the UK’s domestic climate goals had not changed and strong policies were needed to meet existing commitments regardless of Brexit.
The UK has world-leading legislation to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, a position that was “based in our own law, created by our own Parliament”, committee chairman Lord Deben said.
But some climate and energy policies were set at EU level, and these should be preserved and strengthened, the committee urged.
Product efficiency standards for goods ranging from fridges to kettles cut costs for consumers, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and created a level playing field for competition.
If the UK had weaker standards than the EU it could reduce opportunities for UK manufacturers and lead to a dumping on the market of inefficient products that have higher running costs and emissions, the report warned.
But Lord Deben, a strong supporter of remaining in the EU, also suggested: “It is likely people won’t make special fridges for us so there are some of those things which are merely ceding the power and influence to set standards to someone else.”
The UK also needs new EU fuel efficiency standards to help cut emissions from cars to meet its domestic targets on tackling climate change, it said.
Europe’s emissions trading scheme, covering pollution from electricity generation and heavy industry, was a low cost way of cutting emissions, the report said.
But the UK could take the opportunity to improve on some EU policies as it left the bloc, such as using farming subsidies to support more direct action to reduce emissions and targeting heat policy on low-carbon measures not just renewables.
Lord Deben said: “Our fundamental position is based in our own law, created by our own parliament, with a very clear decision to act in this way irrespective of what happens elsewhere.
“But Brexit makes a very big difference to everything that happens,” he said.
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