The UK Parliament accepted the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in the Seventh Carbon Budget, passing the same into law on 24 June 2026. The CCC, an independent body established under the Climate Change Act 2008, advises the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets. The Carbon Budget sets out the Balanced Pathway to net zero, the costs and investment, delivery indicators and roles of stakeholders, an uncertainty analysis, sectoral policy and the impacts on the economy, businesses and workers, as well as internationally and on energy security.
The Seventh Carbon Budget recommends a limit on the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions from 2038 to 2042, at 535 MtCO2e, including emissions from international aviation and shipping. Key areas include electrification and low-carbon electricity supply, which make up the largest share of emissions reductions in the UK’s pathway (60% by 2040). This involves a mass-market rollout for the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps and renewables.
Four other key areas are:
<ul>
<li>Low-carbon fuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS): Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expected to meet 17% of aviation fuel demand; hydrogen will be used in industrial sectors which are hard to electrify, such as ceramics and chemical production; and CCS will be deployed in chemicals, cement and lime industries.</li>
<li>Nature: New woodland will be created and increased to more than 16% of the UK by 2040 compared to 13% now; and peatland will be restored to 55% by 2040 from 26% in 2023.</li>
<li>Engineered removals: By 2040, both bioenergy with CCS and direct air capture are expected to be deployed, with small amounts of removals from enhanced weathering and biochar.</li>
<li>Demand: Cost-effective resource and/or energy efficiency measures will be deployed across most sectors by 2040, in industry, commercial, household and food waste, and aviation and shipping. People will make shifts towards lower-carbon choices through the improvement of public transport infrastructure and availability and greater choice of plant-based foods.</li>
</ul>
The costs of the net costs of Net Zero will be around 0.2% of UK GDP per year on average with the pathway set out in the Carbon Budget, with much investment expected from the private sector.

The Seventh Carbon Budget

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Adoption of the Seventh Carbon Budget

Passed/Approved

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly with alternatives powered by electricity.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

the fair distribution of risks and opportunities of climate change and the transition to a regenerative economy, cognisant in particular of disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities and the working class