8 | New Scientist | 29 January 2022
Climate changeUK still won’t say
how much CO₂ its
strategy will cutTHE UK government has for a
third time declined to release the
expected emissions savings for
measures in its landmark plan to
meet the UK’s carbon targets, in
a decision that critics have called
deeply unhelpful and concerning.
When the Net Zero Strategy
was published last October, officials
said its policies on everything from
electric cars to nuclear power were
collectively enough to put the UKback on track for its legally binding
carbon targets in coming years.
But the savings from individual
policies weren’t released, making
it impossible to scrutinise the
claims and drawing criticism
over a lack of transparency.
The Department for Business,
Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
refused a New Scientist freedom
of information request for a
spreadsheet of the savings
in December. Weeks later, it
rejected an appeal on the grounds
that releasing the information
risked “damaging the internal
decision-making process”.Now, BEIS has declined to publish
its figures for a third time, after
Labour MP Darren Jones called
on the department to reconsider
withholding the document.
In response, energy minister
Greg Hands said the figures
will be published in emissions
projections in “due course”,
without giving any date.
“The government’s refusal to set
out how much individual policies oftheir flagship Net Zero Strategy will
reduce emissions is concerning,”
says Jones, who is chair of the BEIS
select committee. “The lack of
transparency does little to advance
public understanding and is deeply
unhelpful when it is vital we engage
the public to help ensure a fair
and just transition to net zero.”
BEIS didn’t comment
specifically on withholding the
data on emissions savings, but a
spokesperson says: “The Net Zero
Strategy sets out specific, detailed
measures we will take to transition
to a low carbon economy.” ❚
Adam Vaughan“ The lack of transparency
does little to advance
public understanding
and is deeply unhelpful”WESTERN AUSTRALIA, which has
mostly dodged the coronavirus
by sealing itself off from the rest
of the world, has scrapped its
plan to reopen next month based
on concerns about the omicron
variant. But researchers say there
may be little point in waiting
longer before letting the virus in.
The state, which has a
population of 2.7 million, has
recorded just 1300 covid-
cases and nine deaths to date.
It has achieved this by heavily
restricting travel from the rest
of Australia and other countries.
In December 2021, the state’s
premier, Mark McGowan,
announced that Western Australia
would restore travel freedoms on
5 February, when 90 per cent of
its population aged 12 and over
was expected to be double-
vaccinated. But on 20 January,
McGowan cancelled the
reopening, citing fears of an
omicron surge. “Omicron is a
whole new ball game,” he said
at a press conference.
McGowan didn’t set a new
reopening date, but said the aim
was to get 80 to 90 per cent ofpeople boosted with a third
dose of vaccine. The state
currently has a third dose
vaccination rate of 25 per cent
for people aged 16 and older.
Allison Imrie at the University
of Western Australia in Perth says
it is unclear if this would put the
state in a better position, since by
the time everyone has received
their booster shots, people who
received them early on willalready have waning immunity.
“There’s never going to be
a situation where everyone
is synced to the same level of
immunity so you can say, ‘OK, now
we can let the virus in’,” she says.
The two main benefits of
waiting longer are having time
to vaccinate 5 to 12-year-olds, who
have only recently become eligible
for the vaccine, and being able to
import more rapid antigen tests,
which are currently in short
supply, says Imrie.
But in the meantime,
businesses are suffering andpeople in Western Australia
are getting fed up with being
cut off from their friends
and family in other parts
of Australia and overseas,
she says. “It’s very difficult.”
Tony Blakely at the University
of Melbourne says he doesn’t
think Western Australia has much
to gain by shutting itself off for
longer. “For places like Western
Australia, China, New Zealand
and Taiwan that are still playing
the elimination game, there is
a glimmer of hope that they can
perhaps keep omicron out until
new vaccines come along that
are better at stopping omicron,
but I think the chance of that is
remote,” he says.
Western Australia already
has a small omicron outbreak
that began in early January and
has grown to 115 active cases,
prompting the reintroduction
of compulsory mask wearing. “If
they lose control of this omicron
outbreak, they may as well open
the borders because once you have
lots of cases a day, people coming
over the border will make no
difference,” says Blakely. ❚Alice KleinMATT
JELONEK
/GETTY^ IMAGESCoronavirusWestern Australia delays reopening
The state has kept a tight lid on covid-19, but experts say there is little use holding out longer
Women wearing
face coverings in
Perth, AustraliaNews