UK court sends government back to work on climate plan - E&E News by POLITICO
UK court sends government back to work on climate plan - E&E News by POLITICO
The British government will once again need to revise its climate plans, following a court ruling that said officials relied on “vague and unquantified” information to set carbon reduction measures.
London’s High Court on Friday found the government’s plan unlawful, siding with three environmental organizations that last year sued the government over new carbon emissions targets under the nation’s 2008 Climate Change Act. U.K. officials set the limits after a 2022 court ruling found that the climate plan championed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was insufficient to meet the government’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project had argued in court that the government failed to show how the goals of its new plan — enacted in 2023 under then-Secretary of State Grant Shapps — could be achieved.
The decision to approve the plan was “simply not justified by the evidence,” wrote Judge Clive Sheldon in the court’s ruling.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate diplomacy
Talks are well underway in preparation for the next major international meeting on climate change, 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in the United Arab Emirates.
Much like last year’s COP27, finances — specifically, aid to developing nations — will be at the center of conference deliberations.
The conference faces an even greater sense of urgency brought on by the Sept. 8, 2023, release of the first global stocktake, which calls for accelerated action to meet the goals set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (COP21).
Climate diplomacy: COP 27 | Climate diplomacy: COP 28 | Climate diplomacy: COP 29