Rachel Airriess’ Post

Last week the High Court declared that the UK's Climate Action Plan is unlawful due to a lack of adequate evidence to meet emission reduction targets. This ruling emphasizes the urgent need for credible and actionable plans to tackle the climate crisis effectively. It's a call to action for policymakers to align with scientific advisories and commit to substantial and sustainable changes. #ClimateAction #Sustainability #EnvironmentalPolicy #NetZero #GreenHouseGasReductions #ClimateChange https://lnkd.in/eu9SJ4Dy

The High Court (UK) has once again found that the UK government has breached the Climate Change Act when it adopted its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan. The Secretary of State is now expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This move ensures that the UK remains on track to achieve its legally binding carbon budgets, and its pledge to cut emissions by over two thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet. This ruling can be persuasive precedent in many commonwealth countries. https://lnkd.in/dBWAQGqV --- Join the Village: https://lnkd.in/eHujPhrW

Today's report from the Climate Change Committee should be a clear impetus to action for the new UK government.   Put simply, we are off-track to meeting our climate targets. The report finds, for instance, that the UK government has credible plans in place for only a third of the emissions reductions required for its 2030 target.   The UK's current net-zero plan was found unlawful by the courts in May, in the case we took alongside Friends of the Earth and Good Law Project. Now, the new government must put forward a revised plan by May 2025.   They have made positive first steps since the election, but the task before them requires urgent and sustained action. Luckily, policies that will bring down emissions, such as mass home insulation and large-scale investment in public transport, would also improve the lives and finances of people across the country.

A win for climate change campaigners as the UK government has once again been found to have breached the countries Climate Change Act when it adopted an action plan that was insufficient to deliver its climate change ambitions. This was a judicial review application whose outcome now compels the energy secretary to draw up a revised plan within 12 months which will ensure that the countries upcoming carbon budgets are delivered. The ruling is of persuasive value to our jurisdiction. Kenya's Climate Change Act (as amended) is rather bereft of details having been initially created as an administrative document and depends on regulations/guidelines or amendments to give it depth. These rulings give a glimpse of the types of strategic litigation cases that can arise as regards climate change. The importance of getting the policies right is illustrated when you consider what happens to downstream plans that depend on and/or cascade the policy. EX. Kenyan law requires that private and public sector bodies align their climate change programs to the government's NDC. When those plans are invalidated, the issue is cascaded as well. Brian Asin, another one for the books. https://lnkd.in/dThKC6vV

This debate is a good example of regulators coming to grips with assessing local and offshore emissions resulting from our developments. The question is whether or not these new requirements will mitigate climate change. #sustainabledevelopment #decarbonisation

📊 The Expert Council on Climate Issues, which has independent authority to judge the country's climate performance, said Germany is unlikely to meet its goal to cut 65% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 because sectors such as transport and construction are struggling to meet their targets. "Against this background, we recommend not waiting for the target to be missed again, but rather examining the timely implementation of additional measures," the council's Chairman Hans-Martin Henning said in a statement. #emissionsreductions #climatesolutions #germany #greenhousegases https://lnkd.in/es35mbrP

🌍 Earlier this week, we wrote to the Minister of Transport and Minister of Climate Change about the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) released last week, which sets out the Government's transport strategy for the next decade. The GPS disregards New Zealand's current emissions reduction plan, on the basis that the Government will be releasing a second emissions reduction plan later this month. But under the Climate Change Response Act, that plan isn't due to kick in until 2026 (the start of the next emissions budget period)- which could leave NZ without any real emissions reduction plan for the next 18 months. If it wants to make changes to "maintain [the] currency" of the existing emissions reduction plan, the Government has to consult first - not just disregard the current plan. You can view and read more about our letter here: https://lnkd.in/gD6r3M9z

Reporting that the Government acted unlawfully by approving a strategy to meet the UK’s climate targets, a High Court judge has ruled. The plan outlines how the country will achieve targets set out in the sixth carbon budget, which runs until 2037, as part of wider efforts to reach net zero by 2050. The three environmental groups argued the new plan was also unlawful because it was agreed based on incorrect assumptions about its viability, citing the fact that the then-energy minister, Grant Shapps, was not told of the risk that policies to reduce emissions could not eventually be delivered. In response to the decision, a DESNZ spokesperson said: “The UK can be hugely proud of its record on climate change. Not only are we the first major economy to reach halfway to net zero, we have also set out more detail than any other G20 country on how we will reach our ambitious carbon budgets. The claims in this case were largely about process and the judgment contains no criticism of the detailed plans we have in place. We do not believe a court case about process represents the best way of driving progress towards our shared goal of reaching net zero.” #netzero #climatechange #climate https://lnkd.in/ehyrCrFz

UK government’s climate action plan unlawful The High Court has today found that that the government breached the Climate Change Act when it adopted the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan under the act following a legal challenge brought by Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and Good Law Project. The Carbon Budget Delivery Plan that is the subject of the ruling was published in March 2023, and purported to set out government policies that enable the binding targets set in Carbon Budgets to be met, including the pledge to cut emissions by over two thirds by 2030. The adoption of five-yearly Carbon Budgets is a legal requirement under the Climate Change Act. Each Carbon Budget sets legally binding targets for the UK to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The sixth Carbon Budget, which covers the period 2033 to 2037, was adopted in 2021. The latest Carbon Budget Delivery Plan was published after the High Court ruled that the previous plan was also unlawful. The Climate Change Committee, the government’s independent adviser on climate, found in June last year that there were only credible plans for less than a fifth of the emissions cuts needed to meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget, which starts in 2033. As a result of today’s ruling the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Clare Countinho, is expected to have to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. To comply with the Climate Change Act the plan must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets, and its pledge to cut emissions by over two thirds by 2030, both of which the government is not on-track to meet. How this is to be achieved is not clear, and it will be interesting to see the approach taken by the government to this politically sensitive issue (especially considering the comments by the PM last September which took focus away from carbon reduction). The period for updating the plan is likely to coincide with the general election later this year. It is unclear whether the government will seek to issue an updated plan before the election or pass this responsibility on to the next administration. Alistair Taylor #netzero #climatechange https://lnkd.in/ewfqzAU7

🌍 The UK government has been defeated in court for the second time over its failure to meet greenhouse gas emission targets. 🌍 Environmental groups argued that the government’s climate plan lacked evidence of achievability.🌍 ⚖️ The High Court has ruled that the government must redraft its climate plan. This legal challenge was brought by Friends of the Earth , ClientEarth , and The Good Law Project. 🎯 The UK has a target to reduce its emissions by 78% by 2035 against 1990 levels. However, the UK Climate Change Committee (UKCCC) estimated that the government’s plan would only deliver a fifth of the emissions cuts needed in the coming decade. 🔍 The UKCCC criticised the government’s failure to support clean energy and its support for new fossil fuel projects. In July 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced 100 new North Sea oil and gas licenses. 💡 This ruling highlights the urgent need for robust, comprehensive, and fair climate plans that ensure we meet our climate targets without leaving anyone behind. #ClimateChange #NetZero #UKGovernment #GreenhouseGasEmissions #HighCourtRuling #ClimateAction