Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the judgement of the hon. Mr Justice Holgate in the case Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth, Good Law Project vs. Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy handed down on 18 July 2022, for what reason the Energy Minister approved the Government’s Net Zero Strategy without the necessary information on how it would meet the carbon budgets as required under section 13 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

Information on how the policies and proposals will meet the carbon budgets was provided when the publication of the Net Zero Strategy was approved. It was the consideration of Mr Justice Holgate that the policy-by-policy quantification carried out by officials ought to have been before Ministers, rather than the same information aggregated at the sector level. Ministers considered that the combination of the analysis provided and the additional detail summarised by Departmental officials gave sufficient confidence that the policies and proposals would enable the carbon budgets to be met. The Government is seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to appeal the judgment.