The government has released its updated net zero plan, disclosing that the emissions savings it has quantified are likely to accomplish only 92% of the nation’s 2030 climate target.

Yesterday, ministers published a suite of policies, which sprawl across exhaustive 1,000-plus pages, covering everything from biomass and solar power to electric vehicles and nuclear reactors.

In the government’s Carbon Budget Delivery plan, it is stated: “We have quantified emissions savings to deliver 88Mt or 92% of the National Determined Contribution (NDC).

“We are confident the delivery of emissions savings by unquantified policies detailed in this package will largely close this gap and the government will bring forward further measures to ensure that the UK will meet its international commitments if required.

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News that while electricity can be a substantial tool for decarbonisation, the magnitude of the required changes cannot be understated.

In October 2022, data released by the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy showed that the level of emissions will be twice the necessary amount by the close of the decade.

As stated in the document, “Under EEP-ready policies, the projections show headroom against the fourth carbon budgets of 20 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) and shortfalls against the fifth and sixth carbon budgets of 73 and 976MtCO2e respectively”.