The current climate action plan is unlawful, the High Court has ruled.

ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth and the Good Law Project asked the Court to rule on the legality of the net-zero by 2050 plan, with the result that the Government’s climate strategy was deemed not fit-for-purpose, breaching the UK Climate Change Act.

In 2022 the High Court first ruled in our favour against the then net-zero strategy, concluding that it breached the Climate Change Act, and needed to be strengthened. A year later, the Government revised its climate plan, but the three groups decided that it was still too weak, and earlier this year went back to court, winning for a second time as the High Court ruled that the Government has breached its duty under section 13 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

“No more pie in the sky – this judgment means the Government must now take real, credible action to address the climate crisis with a plan that can actually be trusted to deliver and with numbers that can be relied on,” said Sam Hunter Jones, a ClientEarth lawyer.

The Secretary of State is expected to have to draw up a new climate strategy within 12 months.

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