The UK Climate Change Act, first passed in 2008 and amended in 2019, is the UK's framework law for the transition to a low-carbon economy, creating an obligation for the government to set legally-binding carbon budgets to act as stepping stones towards an overall 2050 emissions reduction target.

UK Climate Change Act

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Laws and Policies

CCLW

CCLW national policies

Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener

Information on the Net Zero Strategy

Carbon Budget Delivery Plan

Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan

Published

In 2023, the plan set out sectoral policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet the net zero target by 2050 and to achieve the emissions reductions required by the sixth carbon budget in particular. It replaced the Net Zero Strategy, which was successfully challenged before the courts for being insufficiently detailed. It was created pursuant to Section 14 of the Climate Change Act. The Plan It was revised in 2025.
The new plan is the government’s roadmap for meeting its legally binding carbon budgets and net-zero target while supporting economic growth, energy security, and job creation. Published under the Climate Change Act, the plan sets out policies and proposals across the economy (energy, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, waste, and land use) to deliver emissions reductions through 2037. It emphasizes clean energy deployment, electrification, energy efficiency, low-carbon technologies, and investment in green industries, while positioning the net-zero transition as a driver of productivity, investment, and long-term economic competitiveness. The plan also demonstrates how the UK intends to meet its Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Carbon Budgets (2033-2037) and align domestic climate action with its international climate commitments.

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives