The UK government is to set in law by the end of June 2021 the world's most ambitious climate change target, cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
The target will be introduced based on The Climate Change Committee’s Sixth Carbon Budget. This will mean an increase in ambition on the international pledge made by the UK government last December to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030.
The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic delivered an estimated 10.7% reduction in carbon emissions in 2020, with total greenhouse gas emissions almost 50% lower than they were in 1990, the baseline year for the UK's net-zero target.
Meeting the Budget’s targets would require more electric cars, low-carbon heating, renewable electricity and, for many, cutting down on meat and dairy. For the first time, climate law will be extended to cover international aviation and shipping.
The Climate Change Committee highlights four steps that will be essential to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget:
Take up of low-carbon solutions.
People and businesses will choose to adopt low-carbon solutions, as high carbon options are progressively phased out. By the early 2030s, all new cars and vans and all boiler replacements in homes and other buildings are low-carbon – largely electric. By 2040 all-new trucks are low-carbon. UK industry shifts to using renewable electricity or hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, or captures its carbon emissions, storing them safely under the sea.
Expansion of low-carbon energy supplies.
UK electricity production is zero carbon by 2035. Offshore wind becomes the backbone of the whole UK energy system, growing from the Prime Minister’s promised 40GW in 2030 to 100GW or more by 2050. New uses for this clean electricity are found in transport, heating and industry, pushing up electricity demand by half over the next 15 years, and doubling or even trebling demand by 2050. Low-carbon hydrogen scales up to be almost as large, in 2050, as electricity production is today. Hydrogen is used as a shipping and transport fuel and in industry, and potentially in some buildings, as a replacement for natural gas for heating.
Reducing demand for carbon-intensive activities.
The UK wastes fewer resources and reduces its reliance on high-carbon goods. Buildings lose less energy through a national programme to improve insulation across the UK. Diets change, reducing our consumption of high-carbon meat and dairy products by 20% by 2030, with further reductions in later years. There are fewer car miles travelled and demand for flights grows more slowly. These changes bring striking positive benefits for health and well-being.
Land and greenhouse gas removals.
There is a transformation in agriculture and the use of farmland while maintaining the same levels of food per head produced today. By 2035, 460,000 hectares of new mixed woodland are planted to remove CO2 and deliver wider environmental benefits. 260,000 hectares of farmland shifts to producing energy crops. Woodland rises from 13% of UK land today to 15% by 2035 and 18% by 2050. Peatlands are widely restored and managed sustainably.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:
“The UK is leading the world in tackling climate change and today’s announcement (20 April) means our low carbon future is now in sight. The targets we’ve set ourselves in the sixth Carbon Budget will see us go further and faster than any other major economy to achieve a completely carbon-neutral future.”
The UK over-achieved against its first and second Carbon Budgets and is on track to outperform the third Carbon Budget which ends in 2022. This is due to significant cuts in greenhouse gases across the economy and industry, with the UK bringing emissions down 44% overall between 1990 and 2019, and two-thirds in the power sector.
The Sixth Carbon Budget report, required under the Climate Change Act, provides ministers with advice on the volume of greenhouse gases the UK can emit during the period 2033-2037.
The UK is the first country to enter legally binding long-term carbon budgets into legislation, first introduced as part of the 2008 Climate Change Act. Since then, 5 carbon budgets have been put into law putting the UK on track to meet our ambitious goal of eliminating our contribution to climate change by 2050 and achieving net-zero emissions.
Because climate change is a truly global, complex problem with economic, social, political and moral ramifications, the solution will require both a globally coordinated response (such as international policies and agreements between countries, a push to cleaner forms of energy) and local efforts on the city- and regional level.
The focus must now turn to strengthen the UK’s policy framework to meet this new target by putting in place a detailed net-zero strategy that will drive investment in low carbon goods, services, supply chains, green jobs and skills.