<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/03/britain-climate-action-plan-unlawful-high-court>
"The UK government’s climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled,
as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a
revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its
legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut emissions by more than
two-thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet.
The environmental charities Friends of the Earth and ClientEarth took joint
legal action with the Good Law Project against the Department for Energy
Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) over its decision to approve the carbon budget
delivery plan (CBDP) in March 2023.
In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Sheldon upheld four of the five grounds of
the groups’ legal challenge, stating that the decision by the former energy
security and net zero secretary Grant Shapps was “simply not justified by the
evidence”.
He said: “If, as I have found, the secretary of state did make his decision on
the assumption that each of the proposals and policies would be delivered in
full, then the secretary of state’s decision was taken on the basis of a
mistaken understanding of the true factual position.”
The judge agreed with ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth that the secretary
of state was given “incomplete” information about the likelihood that proposed
policies would achieve their intended emissions cuts. This breached section 13
of the Climate Change Act, which requires the secretary of state to adopt plans
and proposals that they consider will enable upcoming carbon budgets to be
delivered.
Sheldon also agreed with the environment groups that the central assumption
that all the department’s policies would achieve 100% of their intended
emissions cuts was wrong. The judge said the secretary of state had acted
irrationally, and on the basis of an incorrect understanding of the facts.
This comes after the
Guardian revealed the government would be allowing oil
and gas drilling under offshore wind turbines, a decision criticised by climate
experts as “deeply irresponsible”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
