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The Labour Government’s climate advisers laid out controversial lifestyle changes they claim are necessary for achieving Net Zero targets during a Westminster government inquiry on Wednesday.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) emphasized that significant public behavioral adjustments would be essential to meet the UK’s goal of reducing emissions to 81 percent of 1990 levels by 2035.

During the Commons environmental audit committee session, CCC’s Director of Analysis James Richardson explained that approximately 10 percent of emissions reduction would stem from behavioral changes, stating: “In terms of the analysis we’ve done, about 10 percent of emissions reduction to 2035 comes from what we would think of as behaviour change. That’s predominantly around diets, flying and modal shifting [to] public transport.”

Richardson elaborated on flight restrictions, noting: “It’s not about telling people you must stop flying, but it’s the rate of growth of flights that we think would happen if we didn’t take any action… When we talk to citizens, people seem willing to accept there must be some degree of constraint.”

Discussing dietary modifications, he suggested that half the necessary changes by 2035 would follow current eating habit trends.

Richardson defended the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, which penalizes automakers failing to meet electric vehicle sales targets, despite its connection to Stellantis’s decision to close its historic Luton Vauxhall plant.

He compared the situation to past technological transitions, stating: “We know from previous transitions between technologies that incumbent firms can get left behind – we all remember Blockbuster Video or Kodak. When these new technologies come in, it can be easy for incumbents to think they have more time to change than they do. The ZEV mandate is actually a way of saying to industry, as much as anything, ‘look, actually you have less time than you think.'”

These recommendations notably conflict with Prime Minister Starmer’s recent statements at the Cop29 summit, where he assured that emissions reduction wouldn’t require lifestyle changes, specifically declaring he would not be “telling people how to live their lives’ by reducing air travel or changing their diets.”