Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the UN Secretary General’s call on 20 March for rich countries to commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040.

The Government has committed to reaching net zero by 2050, in line with advice from the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee, and consistent with the findings from the IPCC’s Synthesis Report released on 20^th March.

The Government set out the steps it is taking to reach net zero and nearer term targets in the Net Zero Strategy, published in October 2021, and the British Energy Security Strategy, published in April 2022.

As well as this, the Government urges countries that have not already done so to communicate long-term srategies that align with a 1.5C pathway, as soon as possible.