Govt admits quantified climate plans fall short
The government has admitted that its quantified climate action plans fall short of meeting a key and legally binding target for cutting UK emissions.
In its Carbon Delivery Budget Plan, published today, the government says its quantified proposals and policies will only meet 97% of the savings required to meet Carbon Budget 6, and only 92% of international commitments for 2030.
Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said:
“It is deeply troubling that, by its own admission, the government’s quantified plans don’t fully meet legal targets for reducing UK emissions, let alone the deeper cuts that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised at international climate talks just four months ago.
“One obvious area of failing is home insulation where deep emissions cuts could be made quickly if the government funded a rapid energy efficiency programme, as recommended by the government’s own climate advisors.
“Friends of the Earth lawyers will be scrutinising the 1000+ pages of documentation very closely and, if necessary, are ready to take legal action again.
“Given the scale of the climate crisis and the devastating impacts of extreme weather around the world, experts are clear that these targets are the absolute minimum of the urgent action needed.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (See paras 29-31)
- Last July, the High Court ruled that the NZS, which sets out plans to decarbonise the UK economy, didn’t meet the government’s obligations under the Climate Change Act to produce detailed climate policies that show how the UK’s legally-binding carbon budgets will be met. The ruling stated that Greg Hands, the then Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who was responsible for signing off the Net Zero Strategy, didn’t have the legally required information on how carbon budgets would be met. More information is available here.