London Court Rules Against UK´s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan

On Friday, the High Court in London ruled that the British government's latest climate action plan is unlawful.

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According to the judgment, the Conservative government acted unlawfully in March 2023 by approving a plan detailing how to achieve carbon emission reduction targets in the country without sufficient evidence to ensure its implementation.

The government will now have to draft a new outline of the climate strategy, under this verdict. The plan in question included how the UK should achieve the goals outlined in the sixth carbon budget, in effect until 2037, as part of efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Environmental organizations such as 'Friends Of The Earth,' 'ClientEarth,' and 'Good Law Project' jointly took the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to court for its decision to approve the so-called Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) in March 2023.

According to these three organizations, last February, the then Energy Minister and now Business Minister, Grant Shapps, acted unlawfully in approving that plan because it lacked information on whether individual policies could be implemented.

In response to the judgment, a spokesperson for that government department stated that the United Kingdom can be enormously proud of its track record on climate change.

"We do not believe that a court case on the process represents the best way to drive progress towards our shared goal of achieving net zero," the spokesperson said.