Ministers told to redraw green plans after High Court rules UK's current net zero strategy unlawful

The UK will have to come up with a new strategy to reach net zero after a High Court judge ruled the existing plan was unlawful.

Last year the then energy secretary Grant Shapps signed off a strategy known as the sixth carbon budget – stating how the country would meet targets ahead of cutting carbon emissions to net zero in 2050.

The Government's plan to deliver the cuts details policies in a large number of areas, including targets for the sale of electric cars, the installation of heat pumps and even how farmers spread manure on the ground.

But Mr Justice Sheldon ruled Mr Shapps was 'mistaken' in submitting the plan because it assumed the policies would be delivered in full.

Last year the then energy secretary Grant Shapps (pictured) signed off a strategy known as the sixth carbon budget – stating how the country would meet targets ahead of cutting carbon emissions to net zero in 2050

Pictured: A protester outside of the High Courts in London today  

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho will now have to go back to the drawing board and submit a revised plan which would take into account the possibilities individual policies would not necessarily succeed in full.

Mr Justice Sheldon accepted a challenge from environmental campaigners Friends Of The Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project that the plan was unlawful.

In a ruling yesterday, the judge said Mr Shapps' decision to sign off the plan was 'simply not justified by the evidence'.

EXCLUSIVEREAD MORE: Why climate change ISN'T going to end the world and why we need to stop obsessing about net-zero, according to Cambridge University professor 

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The ruling marks a second High Court victory for the three groups against the Government over its climate policies after a different judge ruled in 2022 that ministers were not properly briefed on how certain net zero policies would meet climate targets.

Following the ruling, Sam Hunter-Jones, a lawyer for ClientEarth, said: 'No more pie in the sky...

'This judgment means the Government must now take credible action to address the climate crisis.'

And Labour's climate change spokesman Ed Miliband added: 'This is a new low even for this clown show of a Government.' 

In response to the decision, a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) spokesman said: 'The UK can be hugely proud of its record on climate change.

'Not only are we the first major economy to reach halfway to net zero, we have also set out in more detail than any other G20 country on how we will reach our ambitious carbon budgets.'

The DESNZ added it will publish a new report within 12 months following the judge's decision.

 

31 new oil and gas licences 

Fossil fuel firms will be allowed to look for oil and gas under 31 North Sea windfarms after new licences were granted.

The offshore permits, combined with 51 issued in October, could produce 600 million barrels of oil over the next 30 years – helping project jobs and secure the UK's energy supply during the transition to net zero. And it will provide a boost to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak among backbench MPs, with many being keen on more North Sea digs.

But critics said he was 'irresponsible' for rowing back on the need for green energy.

David Whitehouse, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, said: 'New oil and gas licences benefit every sector in the UK.'