It commits the uk to achieve its longterm goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure steps are taken towards adapting to the impact of climate change. The climate change act 2008 the institute for government. The climate change act 2008 was the worlds first legally binding climate change legislation. The climate change act 2008 c 27 is an act of the parliament of the united kingdom. We are committed to the uk climate change act 2008.
The climate change act sets legally binding targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the uk by at least 80% by 2050, from 1990 levels when did it come into force. Uk climate change act 2008 and adaptation reporting powers. All bill documents summary of the climate change hl act 2008. Along with the climate change bill and the energy bill this bill was considered by the brown administration to be one of the three legislative. Summary of legal aspects of mergers, consolidations, and. Climate change act 2008 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 18 november 2016. The governments proposal for setting the fourth carbon budget. Summary of legal aspects of mergers, consolidations, and transfers of assets the duty that is most pertinent to the approval of mergers and consolidations, however, is the duty of care. The primary purpose of the climate change act 2008 is to realign both economy.
Uk becomes first major economy to pass net zero emissions. This report summarises lessons from the act, for the uk. Figure substituted by climate change act 2008 2020 target, credit limit and. Uk climate change act 2008 includes both adaptation and mitigation part 4. At the heart of the act is a legally binding target to reduce the uk s. The planning act 2008 is an act of the parliament of the united kingdom intended to speed up the process for approving major new infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, harbours, energy facilities such as nuclear power and waste facilities.
Their operational emissions account for nearly 1% of the uk. The united kingdom uk was a worldleader in 2008 when it enacted ambitious domestic climate change legislation. The same strategic choice is reflected by the decision to combine government responsibility for. Summary introduction the uk climate change act went through parliament 10 years ago and became law in november 2008.
The uk climate change act went through parliament 10 years ago and became law in november 2008. This instrument does not give rise to the need for any consolidation. At the same time, our climate is already changing and will continue to do so in the future. United nations framework convention on climate change unfccc the unfccc was created in 1992 as the main forum for international action on climate change. Impacts of and adaptation to climate change adaptation is a devolved function climate change scotland act 2009, and actions for northern ireland and wales established a climate change committee with an adaptation subcommittee. Climate change act 2008 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 18 april 2020. Almost ten years later, the uk s climate change act 2008 the act remains very highly regarded and has acted as a model for legislation in other jurisdictions.
That was agreed by mps under the climate change act in 2008. The act sets up a framework for the uk to achieve its longterm goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure steps are taken towards adapting to the impact of climate change. These correspond with climate science and international and eu commitments, and a series of. This paper evaluates the united kingdoms climate change act of 2008 in terms of the implied rates of decarbonization of the uk economy for a. The origins of the 2008 uk climate change act energy matters. Implementing the climate change act 2008 3 ministerial foreword the uk is at the forefront of developing a low carbon economy, providing green growth and economic development. The rio earth summit in 1992 paved the way for the discussions that led to the agreement of the kyoto protocol in 1997 which committed ratifying developed countries to binding reductions in greenhouse gas. Pdf the uk climate change act became law in november 2008 and is one of the earliest comprehensive framework laws on climate change.
Global action on climate change committee on climate change. Examining the uk climate change act 2008 productivity. Promoting energy security and mitigation of climate change. The uk today became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. In the uk, the climate change act 2008 requires emissions to be reduced by at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Climate change mitigation means minimising the negative impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The climate change act 2008 starting point climate change first began to impinge on policy making discussions in the late 1980s. Merger control laws and regulations united kingdom covers common issues in merger control laws and regulations including relevant authorities and legislation, notification and its impact on the transaction timetable, remedies, appeals and enforcement and substantive assessment in 55 jurisdictions. The climate change act 2008 2020 target, credit limit and.
The act offers a number of lessons, for the uk and other countries, on how climate change legislation is best structured to be effective. On 28 october 2008, at the bills third reading, 463 of 466 mps list of names here voted to pass the uk climate change act without really having any idea what they were voting for. When we consider the impact of aviation emissions on uk commitments we consider two objectives. Cost of the uks climate change act not a lot of people. Paris agreementcommitteeonclimatechangeoctober2016. Uk emissions have continued to fall since the climate change act was passed in 2008. The historic environments response to climate change heritage counts 2008 also includes information on how the sector is responding to the challenges of climate change. Highquality research deepening our understanding of how to make historic buildings more energy efficient. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with. Policy brief 10 years of the uk climate change act. Summary of the key provisions of the climate change act.
Ian preston, vicki white, joshua thumim and toby bridgeman, centre. The experience of the uks climate change act since 2008 provides lessons for climate lawmaking that apply. These are summarised here, with a focus on the legal provisions in the act and how they have been implemented. Climate change state action act 2008 the aim of the act is to assist tasmanians to respond effectively to the challenges of climate. Muinzer, does the climate change act 2008 adequately account for the uk s devolved jurisdictions. The uk climate change act became law in november 2008 and is one of the earliest comprehensive framework laws on climate change globally. This has been stimulated by the climate change act 2008 which established the worlds. Keywords uk climate change act, zero carbon bill, paris agreement, mitigation. On 26 november 2008, the parliament of the united kingdom uk passed the climate change act the act. The central pillars of the legislation are legallybinding targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases ghg by 2020 and 2050. The act makes it the duty of the secretary of state to ensure that the net uk carbon account for all six kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline, toward avoiding dangerous climate change. The department of energy and climate change decc was a british government department created on 3 october 2008, by then prime minister gordon brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the department for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, and those relating to climate change of the department for environment, food and rural affairs. The paris agreement and its impact on business and the.
Clientearths new report calls on the uk government to reinvigorate the climate change act mind the gap. In this paper i have aimed to provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the forces working for and against the political sustainability of the uk s 2008 climate change act. Pdf 10 years of the uk climate change act researchgate. In 2018, the uk s emissions were 44% below 1990 levels, while the economy grew by twothirds over the same period. Almost ten years later, the uks climate change act 2008 the act remains very. The uk has met the first two carbon budgets 2008 12 and 2017 and is.
Adaptation to climate change report to defra second round report 2016 5 executive summary the energy system is undergoing a radical lowcarbon transformation in line with our national and international climate change mitigation commitments. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations. A changing climate for business 4 ukcip unavoidable climate change in the uk in the uk climate change is expected to mean the following. Summary of the key provisions of the climate change act 2008 the uk has passed legislation which introduces the worlds first long term legally binding framework to tackle the dangers of climate change. Article 4 defines what are to be regarded international aviation and international shipping for the purposes of section 301 of the climate change act 2008. The climate change act 2008 establishes a legally binding target to reduce the uk s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% in 2050 from 1990 levels. The merger of the department of energy and climate change and the department for. The uk government announced a target of net zero for uk greenhouse gas ghg emissions by 2050 following recommendations made by the committee on climate change. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Net zero and the different official measures of the uks. The target will require the uk to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net.
Reducing the uks emissions committee on climate change. The climate change bill contains provisions that will set a legally binding target for reducing uk carbon dioxide emission by at least 26 per cent by 2020 and at least 80 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. This change to legislation came into force on 27 june 2019 and amended the climate change act 2008 target of an 80% reduction in ghg emissions compared with the 1990 levels back to table of contents. The act, along with related issues such as a 2030 decarbonisation target for the electricity sector, is the subject of heated debate at the heart of uk climate policy. The climate change bill was introduced into parliament on 14 november 2007 and became law on 26th november 2008. Climate change act that put uk targets emissions reduction targets into law. Climate change mitigation is a key issue for the water and sewerage sectors because they are large consumers of energy.