Greenpeace's London office
MPs have approved a new target for the UK’s carbon emissions to fall to one-eighth of 1990 levels within the next 16 years.
The House of Commons voted on 24 June, by a majority of 238 votes to 94, to approve the government’s Seventh Carbon Budget (CB7), which stipulates UK emissions must fall by 87% from 1990 levels in the period from 2038 to 2042.
The carbon budgets are a series of five-year caps on greenhouse gas levels, set out in legislation to help ease the UK’s transition to net zero emissions by 2050.
Under the target set out in CB7, emissions for the 2038 to 2042 period will be limited to 535MtCO2e. The proposed 87% reduction is in line with advice submitted to ministers last year, by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which was subsequently endorsed by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.
Following the vote, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will announce a delivery plan, setting out how CB7 will be met. Last month, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that the capital spending at DESNZ would be cut to pay for more defence spending (see story below).
Nigel Topping CMG, chair of the CCC, ‘warmly’ welcomed parliament’s vote to pass the Seventh Carbon Budget into law.
He said: ‘It’s a decisive moment that provides the long-term certainty that businesses, investors and communities need to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
‘By setting an ambitious but achievable target for emissions reduction, this legislation will help unlock innovation, drive clean investment and strengthen the UK’s competitiveness in a low carbon world.’
Topping added that, following the passage of CB7, the priority now was to deliver emissions reductions.
