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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to lay a fully-costed impact assessment before both Houses of Parliament before making any adjustment to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

The Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) detailed and analytically rigorous report has shown that this goal is now feasible, deliverable, and can be met within the same cost envelope (an annual resource cost equivalent to 1-2% of GDP in 2050) as was estimated for the 80% target when it was set in 2008. As the CCC identify, there are a wide range of benefits which could partly or fully offset these costs.

While the transition to a net zero economy undoubtedly requires new investment, it also opens up opportunities for the UK to build on its areas of strength, including in offshore wind manufacture, provision of green finance, and development of electric vehicles.

Policies to support delivery of a net zero target will be subject to impact assessments in the usual way.