Today, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has sent a letter to Minister Graham Stuart, offering congratulations to the government for successfully fulfilling the UK’s Third Carbon Budget obligations.
However, the committee’s message is clear: any surplus emissions from this budget must not be carried forward to ease future carbon targets.
Under the UK’s Climate Change Act, carbon budgets serve as legal targets for greenhouse emissions over five-year periods.
The completion of a carbon budget prompts the CCC to advise on the handling of any ‘surplus’ emissions, which could potentially weaken subsequent carbon budgets.
The surplus achieved during the Third Carbon Budget (2018 to 2022) was largely attributed to the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.
Professor Piers Forster, Interim Chair of the Climate Change Committee said: “We congratulate the government on meeting the latest emissions target – the Climate Change Act is working.
“But the path ahead is tougher and we risk losing momentum if future legal targets are loosened on a technicality. The UK is already substantially off track for 2030 and the government must resist the temptation to take their foot off the accelerator.”
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