Britain’s newest climate action plan was deemed unlawful by London’s High Court on Friday. Ministers were unaware of the risks associated with key policies, jeopardizing the plan’s implementation.
This ruling poses another challenge for Britain’s journey towards net zero, according to Reuters.
The court found that the carbon budgets set in 2023 lacked evidence of achievability, necessitating the submission of a new plan.
Last year, Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth, and the Good Law Project legally challenged the targets. They had previously succeeded in contesting the Conservative government’s 2022 budgets. The High Court found Britain in breach of legislation aimed at meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This necessitated the development of a new plan.
The three environmental groups argued the new plan was also unlawful because it was agreed based on incorrect assumptions about its viability, citing the fact that the then-energy minister, Grant Shapps, was not told of the risk that policies to reduce emissions could not eventually be delivered.
Judge Clive Sheldon upheld four out of five grounds of their legal challenge in a written ruling that Katie de Kauwe, a lawyer with Friends of the Earth, described as “another embarrassing defeat for the government and its reckless and inadequate climate plans”.
In response, a spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The UK can be hugely proud of its record on climate change.”
The spokesperson added: “The claims in this case were largely about process and the judgment contains no criticism of the detailed plans we have in place.”
“We do not believe a court case about process represents the best way of driving progress towards our shared goal of reaching net zero.”
More Challenges
Friday’s ruling arrives amidst a growing trend of climate campaigners resorting to legal action to expedite emissions reduction efforts. In April, Europe’s leading human rights court determined that the Swiss government had infringed upon its citizens’ rights by inadequately addressing climate change. This decision may establish a precedent for forthcoming climate litigation.
The case in Britain was also heard amid concerns the country has lost its position as a global leader on climate action.
Friends of the Earth lawyer David Wolfe said at February’s hearing that Britain’s Climate Change Committee warned there were credible policies in place for less than 20% of the reductions required to meet the carbon budget for 2033-2037.
However, the group said, Shapps “proceeded on the assumption that the reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases from all of the proposals and policies … would all be delivered in full”.
The High Court found that officials had inaccurately informed Shapps that all the proposed policies would be fully implemented, thus invalidating the carbon budget delivery plan. Sheldon stated in his ruling that Shapps’ decision lacked justification based on the evidence provided.
Related Topics :
Venomous Snakes: New Climate Change-related Threat
Climate Change and Threat of Diseases
Climate Crisis Grows with Europe Record Numbers of ‘Extreme Heat Stress’ Days in 2023
