The UK has released its third national climate plan, reiterating its commitment to Paris climate agreement goals, and to its 2035 target of an 81pc cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, from 1990 levels.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced the 2035 target at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in November last year. Countries and jurisdictions that are signatories to the Paris climate agreement commit to submitting new national climate plans — known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — every five years, to UN climate body the UNFCCC. The agreement includes a ratchet mechanism, whereby climate targets should become more ambitious over time.
Today's NDC — the UK's third — covers 2031-35. The document consolidates plans already in place, and flags upcoming strategies. The government plans for "clean sources" of power to make up 95pc of the country's generation by 2030, cutting carbon intensity of electricity generation to "well below" 50g CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per kWh in 2030. Carbon intensity was 171g CO2e/kWh in 2023. And the plan notes that the UK was the first G7 country to shut down all coal-fired power, closing its last plant in September 2024.
The government has pledged "an initial" £3.4bn ($4.24bn) towards decarbonising heat and improving household energy efficiency over the next three years, and will introduce the delayed clean heat market mechanism in April. The scheme will require boiler manufacturers to ensure a proportion of their sales are "low carbon options".
The plan sets out the government's manifesto pledge to phase out sales of new cars "relying solely on internal combustion engines" by 2030, and notes that it will consult on issuing no new oil and gas licences to explore new fields. The government also promises "an updated cross-economy plan to meet our climate targets in due course", as well as a new industrial decarbonisation strategy by 2026.
The NDC is in line with advice from the UK's independent advisory Climate Change Committee, and with the country's legally binding sixth carbon budget. The latter includes international aviation and shipping emissions, although NDCs do not require this. The UK's third NDC is "a credible contribution towards limiting warming to 1.5 °C and it sits within a range of Paris-consistent equity metrics", the government said. The Paris accord seeks to limit the rise in global temperature to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5°C.
The country's Labour government, which took power in July last year, has repeatedly underlined its commitment to the UK's legally binding target of net zero GHG emissions by 2050.
The plan took some direction from the outcome of Cop 28, in December 2023. Countries agreed at Cop 28 to transition away from fossil fuels and to treble renewable energy capacity to 11,000GW by 2030.
The NDC also underlined the UK's commitment to spending £11.6bn in international climate finance over April 2021-March 2026, and will outline future climate finance plans in its spring 2026 spending review. UK international climate finance over April 2011-March 2024 reduced or avoided 105mn t of GHG emissions, the government said.
