Why The Government's "Net Zero" Targets Are A Huge Own Goal

30th July 2022

An article by Victoria Hewson published by the Institute for Economic Affairs an independent think tank on 28 July 2022.

Last week, the government lost a judicial review challenge by Friends of the Earth to its Net Zero Strategy.

While FotE claimed this as a major victory, the government tried to shrug it off as a technicality that simply means ministers will need to review the policy and take relevant decisions in a different way, using some different data. This is probably correct in practice, although substantive work will need to be done to ensure that credible timescales and risk weightings are attached to the strategy.

It does not set any new legal precedent, but the case provided useful insights into the Net Zero Strategy and the way that the binding commitments in the Climate Change Act play out in practice. This should be sounding alarm bells for ministers in departments affected by climate change policies and others that have been made subject to legally binding targets, most notably perhaps Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the Environment Act 2021.

About Victoria Hewson
Victoria joined the IEA's International Trade and Competition Unit in Spring 2018. She is a lawyer and practiced for 12 years in the fields of technology and financial services, before joining the Legatum Institute Special Trade Commission to focus on trade and regulatory policy. She has published work on the implications and opportunities of Brexit in financial services and movement of goods and the issues in connection with the Irish border. Before entering the legal profession Victoria worked for Procter & Gamble in the UK and Germany.

Read the full article HERE