Welcome to Zero. I am Akshatrati.

For the past three decades, the UK has led the world in reducing emissions.

It's still true.

But you might think otherwise, given the political rhetoric coming from the government in power.

One big reason why the home of the Industrial Revolution has been ahead in the race to rain in emissions is the Climate Change Act of 2008.

It bound the government to carbon budgets that forced it to limit how much planet warming emissions it can spew in any five years.

Each budget is smaller, taking the government to zero emissions by 2050.

Those budgets are informed by the science and overseen by the Climate Change Committee.

For the past six years, the committee has been led by Chris Starr.

As the chief executive of the CCC, he's had a delicate job to do,

advising on policies that would put government back on track to meet

climate goals and admonishing the government when necessary.

That job has become harder over the past year as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tried

to backpedal on green policies. It has empowered a partisan media to create doubts around

the political consensus to act on climate change,

something that has been a hallmark of UK politics for the past 15 years.

Stark is stepping down from his role later this month,

and I wanted to hear how he has navigated the growing divisions and what might be ahead for his successor.

That matters a lot with the UK holding an election this year that could determine whether

Sunak remains in power or is replaced by a more climate-friendly government.

We also talked about how the CCC has played a role outside the UK, shaping the way many governments around the world approach climate policy.

Chris, welcome to the show.

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