Skip to content
Climate Change Laws of the World logo globeClimate Change Laws of the World logo text

United Kingdom

Federative (3 devolved governments)
Political Groups
G20, OECD, EU
Global Climate Risk Index
90.83
Targets
World Bank Income Group
High income
Share of Global Emissions
0.86%

Documents

  1. 2025Legislative
    Great British Energy Act 2025

    Great British Energy is a publicly-owned and operationally independent company, headquartered in Aberdeen, supporting the delivery of the clean energy superpower mission of the United Kingdom. Great British Energy will increase domestic clean energy production and public ownership of clean energy assets, build stronger UK supply chains, create jobs, and drive long-term gro...

  2. 2025UNFCCC Submission
    United Kingdom National Inventory Report (NIR). 2025

    United Kingdom National Inventory Report (NIR). 2025

  3. 2025Legislative
    Water (Special Measures) Act 2025

    Under section 10 of this Act, there is an amendment to section 2 of the Water Industry Act 1991 for the Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, to have regard to achieving compliance by the Secretary of State with the relevant environmental target duties, including the duty to achieve the UK net zero emissions target in section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

Legislative Process

Parliament is the centre of the political system in the United Kingdom. It is the supreme legislative body and the government is drawn from and answerable to Parliament. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Draft bills are issued for consultation before being formally introduced to Parliament. A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to change an existing law that is presented for debate before Parliament. Bills are introduced in either the House of Commons or House of Lords for examination, discussion and amend­ment. When both Houses have agreed on the content of a bill, it is presented to the monarch for Royal Assent. Once Royal Assent is given, a bill becomes an Act of Parliament and is law. An Act of Parliament creates a new law or changes an existing law.

Government White Papers set out details of future policy on a particular subject. They allow the government to gather feedback before it formally presents the policies as a bill. The last general election was in May 2015. The next election is scheduled to take place in 2020. Seats in the House of Lords are unelected appointments, and are a mix of lifetime appointments and hereditary peerages.

Due to the devolution of policy making, the administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are individually responsible for implementing some aspects of UK climate change strategy. However, this chapter focuses on legislation passed by Parliament and policies proposed by the UK government.