The UK government has re-emphasised its commitment to the country's legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050, and says it is acting either fully or partially on all recent recommendations from the independent advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC).
The CCC in July found that "urgent action" was needed if the UK was to hit its climate goals — but it was based on the previous Conservative administration's policy. The current Labour government had taken power just two weeks previously.
"The inheritance of this government was that we were not on course to rise to the climate challenge or seize the opportunities of action", the government said this week. It set out in detail its action so far on a variety of issues — including renewable power, sustainable transport, domestic heating and biodiversity — as well as future plans.
The government will in 2025 publish an update on its plans for "fully delivering" the fourth, fifth and sixth carbon budgets, it said. Carbon budgets are legally binding and place a restriction on UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over a five-year period. Carbon budgets 4-6 cover the timeframe 2023-37.
It will also set the seventh carbon budget — which covers the period 2038-42 — by June 2026, alongside a strategy "setting out the next phase of our pathway to net zero". The UK has cut GHG emissions by 53pc between 1990 and 2023, provisional data show. It met its first three carbon budgets, which collectively covered 2008-2022.
The government has taken several steps since winning the July election, including lifting the de facto onshore wind ban, approving renewables projects and awarding the first permit for carbon transport and storage. It has also slightly watered down its pledge of "clean power" by 2030, to 95pc from 100pc, although it also provided clarity around reaching the target in an action plan released last week.
And UK prime minister Keir Starmer last month unveiled an ambitious GHG reduction goal at the UN Cop 29 climate summit. The UK has a headline goal of cutting GHGs by 81pc by 2035, from 1990 levels, and will set out its plan to achieve that "in the coming months", the government said this week.
