Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what reason her Department did not publish the risk assessments for the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan.

These risk tables formed part of the advice provided to the Secretary of State in March 2023. This advice enabled the former Secretary of State to carry out his statutory duty under Section 13 of the Climate Change Act, through which he concluded that he had a package of proposals and policies in place to meet the UK’s carbon budget targets. At that time, the Department published the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, which outlined in detail the UK’s plans to meet its carbon budgets.

The Department was under no obligation to publish these detailed risk tables, which formed the basis of internal decision-making and advice. They have now been published in the context of ongoing litigation.