The ruling, which dismisses almost all of the CCC’s arguments, comes after a two-year battle to obtain the cost calculations.
According to Mr Montford:
“By arguing that it has overwritten and erased the spreadsheet data, the CCC has essentially admitted that its internal processes are a shambles. This is not a competent organisation and Parliament needs to investigate as a matter of urgency. If they can’t even manage simple matters of data retention, what hope is there that they can prepare a plausible costing of a multi-trillion pound project such as the decarbonisation of the UK economy?”
During the case, the CCC revealed that their costing does not include any estimate for spending in 2020-2049, but only considered the residual amounts in 2050, after the bulk of the transition.
*The CCC has 35 days to publish the closest versions of the spreadsheets to those that existed at the time of the request.
*Mr Montford was advised by information law specialists John Goss and Aaron Moss of 5 Essex Court chambers.