On the 13th of October, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg dropped plans to appeal against the July High Court ruling which found the government’s current net zero strategy inadequate. The government lost a case against climate charity ClientEarth, who teamed up with campaign organisations Friends of the Earth and the Good Law Project.
The High Court agreed with ClientEarth’s claim that the existing strategy was lacking enough detail or methodology. During the hearing, they argued that the government did not prove how its policies would reduce emissions enough to meet their own legally binding carbon budgets.
The court ruling upholds that Greg Hands, who was the Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy at the time, did not have the legally required information on how carbon budgets would be met when he signed off on the strategy. Downing Street now has 5 months to revise its plan. The current net zero emissions plan would still result in an over reliance on fossil fuels, which results in higher energy bills for householders.
Despite this, we are continuing to work to make more homes energy efficient, reduce domestic emissions, and reduce energy bills. In our work with ECO4 installers and with local councils to deliver home improvements, The Improveasy Group is persevering in the mitigation of carbon emissions. Since ECO3 began in 2018, we have processed over 49,000 measures. We have confirmed the compliance of ECO upgrades for our company and others for over 22,000 homes. ECO4 started in July, and the average number of measures installed per property we have worked with is 3.4, meaning we are guaranteeing homes are correctly insulated as well as heated.
As part of the process in creating a new plan, the government began a call to review which lasted a month and ends today (27 October 2022). Chris Skidmore MP launched the review, and stated: “Everyone in the country has a stake in the UK’s transition to net-zero. It doesn’t matter if you live in Argyle or Aberystwyth, Carlisle or Canterbury, our lives will need to change, whether that means the way we travel to work, heat our homes or run our factories.”
The UK government invites anyone, the general public as well as experts, to give their views on how the government should approach delivering the target by 2050. Get your voice heard, submissions for review close at 11.45pm.
You can respond here: https://beisgovuk.citizenspace.com/nzs/call-for-evidence-on-net-zero-review/
Or via email here: netzeroreview@beis.gov.uk
