Asked by: Siobhan Baillie (Conservative - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how the (a) UK and (b) Global carbon budget informs the Government's Climate Change mitigation strategy.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government’s independent advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) advised that reaching net zero by 2050 is the right target for the UK, which is consistent with the UK’s contribution to reducing global emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. We followed their advice by legislating for net zero in 2019.
When setting our carbon budgets, which step down towards our 2050 target, we follow the requirements set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. These include taking account of several matters including “scientific knowledge about climate change” and “circumstances at European and international level”.
We will carefully consider the CCC’s advice ahead of setting the sixth carbon budget in legislation later this year. Following the setting of this target, we will be publishing a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26 which sets out the Government’s vision for how we transition to a net zero economy.