UK parliament has agreed on the country's seventh carbon budget, and will set into law greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions of 87pc by 2042, from a 1990 baseline.
The vote, which took place in the evening of 24 June, passed with 332 votes for and 94 against. The UK's Labour government has pursued ambitious decarbonisation policies since it won a landslide victory in July 2024.
The government earlier this month set out its proposal for the emissions cuts, in line with recommendations from the parliamentary advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC).
Carbon budgets, which are legally-binding in the UK, cap the total GHG emissions that the UK can emit over five-year periods. The seventh carbon budget, which covers 2038-42, will have a limit of 535mn t/CO2 equivalent (CO2e), including the UK's share of international aviation and shipping emissions. This is "consistent with the Paris Agreement" and its most ambitious target to curb the global rise in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the government said.
The CCC welcomed the results of yesterday's vote. It "provides the long-term certainty that businesses, investors, and communities need to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels… this legislation will help unlock innovation, drive clean investment, and strengthen the UK's competitiveness in a low-carbon world", CCC chair Nigel Topping said.
The UK is on track to meet its fourth and fifth carbon budgets, which cover 2023-27 and 2028-32, respectively, the CCC said this week in its annual assessment of government progress on climate targets. But the government must accelerate electrification to hit climate goals beyond that, the committee added.
The UK met its first three carbon budgets, which covered 2008-2022 collectively, largely through power sector decarbonisation, including shutting coal-fired power generation. The country has a legally-binding target to reach net zero GHG emissions by 2050.
