Climate committee urges government not to relax future targets after UK overachieved in 2018-22, in part thanks to lockdowns
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.
