UK sets 78pc 2035 CO2 cut target

The UK will put in place an additional 2035 target for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of legislation setting the country's sixth climate budget.

The UK will aim to cut its GHG emissions by 78pc by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, the government said today.

The new target is in line with recommendations by government advisory body the Climate Change Committee (CCC), put forward in December as part of its advice on the country's sixth carbon budget covering 2033-37.

The reduction represents a significant step up in ambition, given that the UK's reduction target for 2050 was 80pc before the setting in 2019 of its legally binding goal to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.

The sixth carbon budget will be the first to include aviation and shipping emissions, the government said today, which will "allow for these emissions to be accounted for consistently".

The government did not specify which policies it would implement to meet the new target. But it emphasised that its budget "does not follow each of the CCC's specific policy recommendations".

"The government will look to meet this reduction target through investing and capitalising on new green technologies and innovation, while maintaining people's freedom of choice, including on their diet," it said.

The CCC's advice, part of its "balanced pathway" to net zero emissions, includes a 24pc reduction in meat consumption by 2035. It also sees 100pc of new car sales being electric vehicles by the same date, and for 100pc of boiler replacements to be low carbon.

The pathway also accounts for 59mn t of CO2 equivalent of carbon capture and storage capacity by 2035, as well as 485TWh of electricity and 106TWh of hydrogen production.

The UK had already revised up its 2030 GHG cut target to 68pc in December, also based on the CCC's sixth carbon budget advice.

The government last month set out an industrial decarbonisation strategy that aims to cut UK industrial emissions by two-thirds by 2035, compared with 2018 levels.

Legislation setting out the government's commitments will be laid before the UK parliament tomorrow, and must be finalised by June.

By Victoria Hatherick