Ministers could use loophole to water down carbon reduction commitments

The Climate Change Act allows ministers to count surplus emissions savings towards the next carbon budget – but campaigners say the UK is ‘already 'substantially off track for 2030’. Photograph: David Davies/PA

Ministers will be able to water down the UK’s carbon reduction commitments if the government chooses to take advantage of a legal loophole.

The UK overachieved on meeting its third five-year carbon budget, which ran from 2018 to 2022, requiring reductions of 38% compared with 1990 levels. The emissions cap for the budget was 2,544 megatons of CO₂ equivalent, but the actual emissions were 391 MtCO₂e fewer, or 15% below the budget.