The UK Climate Change Act, first passed in 2008 and amended in 2019, is the UK's framework law for the transition to a low-carbon economy, creating an obligation for the government to set legally-binding carbon budgets to act as stepping stones towards an overall 2050 emissions reduction target.

UK Climate Change Act

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Laws and Policies

CCLW

CCLW national policies

The Sixth Carbon Budget

Date passed by Parliament 

The UK Parliament accepted the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in the Sixth Carbon Budget, passing the Budget's target into law on 22 June 2021. 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 path to net zero, sectoral pathways, the contribution of devolved governments, the investment, costs and benefits, just transition considerations, the international and scientific circumstances, and recommendations.
The Sixth Carbon Budget requires a 78% reduction in UK territorial emissions between 1990 and 2035, bringing forward the UK’s previous 80% target by nearly 15 years. This is a 63% reduction from 2019.
The actions required to meet the UK’s Carbon Budget and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) fall under four key areas:
<ul>
<li>Reducing demand for carbon-intensive activities: An accelerated shift in diets away from meat and dairy products, reductions in waste, slower growth in flights and reductions in travel demand; and improved energy and resource efficiency.</li>
<li>Take-up of low-carbon solutions: By the early 2030s, all new cars and vans and all boiler replacements in homes and other buildings must be low-carbon. By 2040, all new heavy goods vehicles should be low-carbon. Industry must either adopt technologies that use electricity or hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, or install carbon capture and storage.</li>
<li>Expansion of low-carbon energy supplies: Low-carbon electricity; offshore wind; and low-carbon hydrogen, produced using electricity or from natural gas or biomass with carbon capture and storage, will be key energy sources.</li>
<li>Land and removals: Growing woodland cover from the current 13% to 15% by 2035; and the wide restoration of peatland.</li>
</ul>
The Carbon Budget states that the UK’s actions are meant to go beyond those required from the world on average, in line with the UK’s responsibility as a richer nation with larger historical emissions.
The central estimate for costs is now below 1% of the UK’s GDP throughout the next 30 years. The Carbon Budget calls for a major nationwide investment programme, led by the UK government, but largely funded and delivered by private companies and individuals.

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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 target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Energy derived from biological compounds that are renewable due to their short life cycle within the carbon dioxide cycle.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

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

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

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

The Sixth Carbon Budget

Target

Climate justice

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector