Ditching Key Net Zero Policies Found To Be Unlawful
I’m delighted to announce that the Government have conceded that the previous administration acted unlawfully when delaying and abandoning key Net Zero policies – we’ve won.
On September 20th 2023 Rishi Sunak dumped a raft of Net Zero policies – delaying the ban of petrol and diesel vehicles and installation of new gas boilers plus the complete abandonment of the policy to require landlords to improve energy efficiency in rented property.
My first claim centred around this – myself and my lawyers argued it was unlawful to row back these Net Zero commitments without having any other policies in place to make up for the short fall.
These policies were all key elements of the Government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan– and by dumping or delaying them, the shortfall in quantified emission savings increased from 3% to 10%. Knowing this, neither Sunak or Coutinho enacted any policies to make up this short fall.
My second claim was on the Government’s assertion that even with these rowbacks, they were still compliant under the Climate Change Act. The current Government have concluded that this was unlawful, along with the gas boiler and landlord decisions.
While the Government hasn’t conceded the other decisions I’ve listed were unlawful, they have agreed to reconsider all of those decisions. Going forward transparency is essential – and rest assured if the new Government try and pass similar policies again without informing the public of the real effects of those policies on hitting Net Zero, we’ll be right back on the case.
The Government has agreed to pay capped costs of up to £35K for each case, and Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, has invited me to speak with him on the issue of transparency surrounding climate change decision-making going forward.
Thanks to all those who have donated to this case – and to my lawyers for their tireless work. Onwards!