Climate activists are calling on government officials to adopt more aggressive measures to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions after the Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommended an 81% reduction by 2035, excluding emissions from aviation and shipping.
In a recent letter to Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, the CCC advised that the UK should aim for this significant reduction compared to 1990 levels. Miliband now faces the challenge of deciding whether to adopt this recommendation as part of the UK’s new international commitment under the Paris Agreement at the upcoming UN climate summit.
An 81% reduction aligns with the UK’s existing carbon budgets for the 2030s, which are designed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. However, campaigners argue for even more ambitious targets to position the UK as a global leader in climate action and to foster a low-carbon economy. Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, stated, “With climate change escalating alarmingly, the proposed 81% cut should be viewed as a minimum target. Increasing our ambitions would demonstrate real leadership in efforts to combat climate change.”
Catherine Pettengell, executive director of Climate Action Network UK, emphasized that this target should be seen as a baseline, not a ceiling. “A more ambitious and equitable goal could be reached if the UK fully commits its economic and political resources,” she asserted.
Achieving the proposed target will be challenging, as the UK is currently far from meeting its existing international goal of a 68% reduction in emissions by 2030, which was established by Boris Johnson before the UK hosted the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, according to Friends of the Earth’s analysis.
Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, stressed that genuine leadership requires the government to outline clear plans to meet the 2035 target. He called for the fulfillment of Labour’s commitment to halt new oil and gas licenses, triple renewable energy sources, double energy efficiency rates by 2030, and support workers transitioning from polluting sectors.
A significant consideration for Miliband as he formulates the UK’s international target—known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement—concerns the inclusion of emissions from international aviation and shipping. Currently, these emissions are part of the UK’s domestic carbon budgets but were not explicitly covered in the 2015 Paris Agreement due to the complexities in attributing them to specific countries. While some activists argue that aviation and shipping should be included, there is disagreement on this point, and most nations typically exclude them from their NDCs.
Jonathan Hood, UK sustainable shipping manager at the campaigning group Transport & Environment, argued for their inclusion: “Transferring responsibility for shipping emissions to the ineffective International Maritime Organisation while excluding them from the NDC is illogical—especially when the UK has legally accepted responsibility for these emissions by including them in the sixth carbon budget.”
If aviation and shipping are included in the calculations, the actual NDC target would effectively represent about a 78% cut by 2035, aligning with the UK’s carbon budgets.
New NDCs must be submitted to the UN by February, but Keir Starmer has pledged that the UK’s targets will be revealed sooner, during the upcoming Cop29 UN climate summit in Azerbaijan from November 11. At the recent UN General Assembly in New York, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to leading efforts against climate change, both domestically and internationally. He stated, “The threat of climate change is existential and immediate. We are resetting Britain’s approach.”
Releasing the NDC ahead of schedule is intended to encourage other major economies to follow suit. However, a significant uncertainty looms over Cop29, as the outcome of the US presidential election just five days prior could impact global climate policies. Donald Trump has pledged to dismantle the green initiatives established by Joe Biden and withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement.
The UK has successfully met its first three five-year carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act of 2008, but meeting future targets is becoming increasingly difficult. The current carbon budget extends to 2027 and will be evaluated at the end of this parliamentary term in 2029. The fifth and sixth budgets call for a 58% reduction in emissions by 2032 and a 78% reduction by 2037, respectively. The CCC will set the seventh carbon budget next year.
Robert Jenrick, a Conservative leadership candidate, has proposed repealing the Climate Change Act, and his rival Kemi Badenoch has expressed skepticism about the UK’s net zero goals.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero remarked, “Britain is reestablishing its climate leadership because the only way to protect current and future generations is to make the UK a clean energy superpower and lead global climate action. We appreciate the Climate Change Committee’s expert advice, which we will carefully consider as we announce an ambitious NDC target at Cop29 to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”
