04 Nov 2024
We urgently need the new climate plan to meet our vital climate targets and benefits our lives. We want to see lower energy bills, warm homes, clean air, better public transport and well-paid green jobs.
How do we get there? Making sure those in power know what we want. By talking to MPs about the climate plan, we can ask them to champion it and put pressure on key decision makers to deliver a new plan that is bold and has fairness at its core.
Why must the climate plan deliver?
The government's climate plan is its strategy to reduce the UK’s climate emissions. The government is obliged to cut emissions and to produce a plan showing how this will be done. This is thanks to the passing of the Climate Change Act 2008 following Friends of the Earth’s “Big Ask” campaign.
The climate plan must set out policies to reduce climate-changing emissions and decarbonise all sectors of the UK economy, from transport to agriculture. It should outline how it’ll put the UK on track for net zero emissions by 2050 and meet the shorter-term targets that ensure action starts now and isn't kicked down the road. This includes the UK's pledge under international law to cut emissions by over two-thirds by 2030.
Why does the government have to write a new climate plan?
Since the Climate Change Act was passed, Friends of the Earth has closely tracked its implementation. Twice in the last three years, Friends of the Earth has taken the government to court because we believed its climate plan was not in line with what the Climate Change Act required. And on both occasions the court has agreed, declared the plan unlawful and ordered the government to write a new plan.
The most recent court victory was in May 2024, and the court ordered the government to write a new plan by early May 2025. This responsibility has now passed to the new Labour government. Keir Starmer’s government has recommitted to meeting the UK’s 2030 international climate pledge. But a recent report by the government’s official advisors, the Climate Change Committee, found that we’re off track to meet the target and “urgent action is needed”.
How can we ensure we get the climate plan we need?
The 2030 target is critical for Labour: the deadline is only six years away. The government can’t kick the can down the road and leave action to the next elected government in 2029. Almost all the planning and delivery of the new climate plan must happen during Labour’s current term of office.
We want the government to write an ambitious, comprehensive and fair climate plan. It needs to contain credible policies to make sure we meet all our climate commitments. It must be fully funded, from a mix of government investment and private sector money.
The new climate plan needs to make sure that no-one is left behind. Cutting carbon emissions isn’t just about tackling the climate crisis – it’ll also bring many other benefits: warmer homes with cheaper bills, good jobs in new green industries, better public transport and cleaner air. Everyone in the UK needs to be able to benefit from these opportunities.
To get the government to write an ambitious, comprehensive and fair climate plan, we need to get key people on side, including prime minister Keir Starmer, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves and energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband. They need to get the message that a bold plan will help them achieve their goals: clean energy, creating growth, improving opportunity and improving the NHS.
We need to show decision makers that our ideas have broad support from a wide range of people, not just green groups. Businesses, unions, groups representing people experiencing fuel poverty and those suffering the impacts of climate change, faith groups and many more want an ambitious, comprehensive and fair climate plan too.
We want Starmer, Reeves, Miliband and others to hear from MPs demanding action. And for this to happen, MPs across the country need to hear that people in their constituency want a comprehensive climate plan.
