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UK Climate Change Act


The Climate Change Act was passed in the parliament of the United Kingdom in 2008. The legislation commits the UK to becoming a low carbon economy through tackling climate change issues and finding new responses to them. The Act lays out the basis by which this can occur and requires greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced. In addition to this, support is shown for international action to take place in regards to achieving the points set out. The government set the target of completing this by 2050, and in order to do this, the Committee for Climate Change (CCC) was established to provide scientific evidence for the progress of each aim.


The specific legal requirement for 2050 was that greenhouse gas emissions had to be reduced by 80% of 1990 levels. Also, carbon budgets were introduced to aid this reduction. This placed a legal limitation on the amount of emissions that could occur over a five year period, making the UK the first country to take this stance. The purpose of this was to lay out the beginnings of a time and cost effective program that would eventually succeed in its goals. This policy is extremely significant because it has involved such a huge number of governmental areas. Given the analogous nature of the issue at hand, all departments play a role in responding; from the Department for Transport to DEFRA (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), almost every aspect has some relevance. Outside of the UK government, when the UK was a member of the EU until recently, they had to also follow those European guidelines set in place. Finally, on a global scale the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), put together policies such as the Paris Agreement.


Now, over ten years after the passing of the Climate Change Act, it is certainly interesting to study both the positive and negative developments that have happened. In 2018 the CCC observed that greenhouse gas emissions had fallen and were 44% below 1990 levels. This means that two carbon budgets have already been fulfilled and the country are on track to achieve the third in 2022. Another success has been the encouragement it provided for other countries to also create their own climate change legislation, and push forward with an international movement. However, at the rate at which climate change is worsening, the next 10-20 years are critical for how policies need to be adapted. More action needs to be taken to prepare the citizens for how weather conditions will affect their day to day existence, with factor such as building infrastructure and behaviours.


With thirty years left to meet all the requirements, the UK Climate Change Act still has a long way to go. However we can definitely appreciate the efforts of the UK government to forge their own initiative, and how it has also managed to condone the same attitude on a much larger scale. The Clean Growth Strategy is a relatively new method that has been implemented to meet the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, again highlighting the importance that is rightfully being placed on combatting climate change. We must not become complacent in the endeavours of the government, but it is clear to see we are heading in positive direction.


Who’s Future? Our Future.

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