The High Court has ruled that the UK government’s latest climate action plan to reach net zero emissions is unlawful as the plan does not provide enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to combat climate change.

In March 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) approved its carbon budget delivery plan (CBDP).

However, soon after the plan was published, environmental campaign groups including Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project took legal action on the grounds that the CBDP fails to properly account for how it would meet the UK’s domestic climate targets, as required by the Climate Change Act of 2008.

In February 2024, former chair of the Climate Change Committee Lord Deben provided a witness statement in support of Friends of the Earth’s legal challenge.

Lord Deben said: “The government is relying on everything going to plan with no delays or unforeseen circumstances, and on technologies which have either not been tested or...