The legal challenge was brought by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth, Good Law Project and private individual Jo Wheatley.
In its judgment, the court found that the Net Zero Strategy, which sets out plans to decarbonise the economy, doesn’t meet the government’s obligations under the Climate Change Act to produce detailed climate policies that show how the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets will be met.
It also found that parliament and the public were effectively kept in the dark about a shortfall in meeting a key target to cut emissions.
The ruling states that Greg Hands, the minister for business, energy and industrial strategy, who was responsible for signing off the Net Zero Strategy, didn’t have the legally required information on how carbon budgets would be met even though he approved the strategy.
The judge also concluded that the net zero strategy “lacked any quantitative assessment of the contributions expected to...