Climate groups in new legal challenge to UK government’s net-zero strategy

The UK government is facing a fresh legal challenge from climate groups opposed to its climate-change strategy, it emerged on Friday.

The lawsuit was filed at the High Court in London by Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and Good Law Project to address what they have described as “feeble and inadequate” plans on the part of the Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to tackle global warming.

The groups claim the government’s revised net-zero strategy, released last March, is “unlawful”, and have requested a judicial review by the court.

“The government’s new plan to reduce emissions is not fit for purpose,” ClientEarth chief executive Laura Clarke said in a statement, adding the strategy relies on “unproven and high-risk technological fixes at the expense of near-term action”.

“We see hesitation and delay from the government and are almost certain to miss emissions reduction targets.”

In July last year, a UK high court ruled that the government’s Net Zero Strategy was in breach of the Climate Change Act, as it did not contain sufficiently detailed policies showing how the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets would be met.

The government was ordered to release updated plans, which it did in its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) in March.

The new strategy is the object of the lawsuit brought on by the three groups, and the second time in less than two years the organisations have challenged the government plans in court.

'Falling short'

“Despite having nine months to come up with a lawful strategy, we believe this revised action plan still falls far short of the government’s legal obligations under the Climate Change Act,” Friends of the Earth lawyer Katie de Kauwe said.

The court challenge follows a damning report last week from the parliamentary Climate Change Committee (CCC) which stated the country had“lost its leadership position” on climate action and criticised the government for its “hesitant” approach to policies aimed at drastically reducing emissions.

Among its points of criticism, the CCC singled out the government’s support for new oil and gas production in the UK North Sea, where the Equinor-led Rosebank field development is approaching final investment decision.

The largest undeveloped offshore field in the region, the project has been the subject of fierce opposition by climate campaigners in the UK.

In a Westminster Hall debate last week, Brighton MP for the Green Party Caroline Lucas said proceeding to develop Rosebank would have “disastrous” environmental consequences for the UK.

In the new lawsuit, the organisations argue the revised CBDP offers “no real information on the government’s assessment of the risk of the proposals and policies not being delivered and not meeting legally binding climate targets”.

They argue that the plan remains unlawful against the provisions of the Climate Change Act.

The claim adds that that government reliance on nascent and underdeveloped technologies, such as hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and sustainable aviation fuel, pose “inherent delivery risk” that have not been addressed in the strategy.