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UK climate change policy

A critique of the climate policy in the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto lists a range of positive aims, but also points to the absence of some “essential policies that must be pushed forwards in the next parliament” (Big Issue, 2024). Among the positive aims are expanding nature-rich habitats “as part of moving to a circular economy ”, ending pollution of our rivers and seas through a range of sanctions on failing water firms, and reclaiming the UK’s “global climate and nature leadership role via an international Clean Power Alliance”. Fracking would be banned, there would be a new windfall tax on oil and gas companies , and a just transition to a clean energy future. Notably absent are any announcements to “revoke existing oil and gas licences, like Rosebank, and to end outrageous fossil fuel subsidies ”. While FTSE 100 companies will be required to “implement transition plans that align with the Paris Agreement” there appears to be no obligation on the government to have a “credible 1.
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Adapting to climate change

The previous post addressed the topic of sea level rise with a focus on a single area of southwest England. This post looks at a wider range of climate adaptation issues which may affect all the UK. Greenpeace (2024) lists present-day effects of climate change such as heatwaves, flooding, wildfires, spells of unusually cold weather, sea level rise and coastal erosion, loss of species’ habitats and threats of extinction. It predicts that future floods in the UK “could impact two or three million people across the country if temperatures reach 2 ° C or 3 ° C above pre-industrial levels”, and notes that despite this, “thousands of new homes are still being built within high-risk flood zones, and thousands of flood defences are in poor condition.” A detailed approach to climate change adaptation is provided by Hodgkin and Rutter (2024), who begin with climate change as an existing problem for the world, citing wildfires in Canada, flooding in Libya, and drought which reduced shipping
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Future sea levels

In an address to the UN Security Council, Secretary-General António Guterres described the phenomenon of sea level rise as a “threat multiplier” which jeopardizes access to water, food and healthcare. He also referred to the potential damage to agriculture, fisheries and tourism, and to infrastructure, such as transportation systems, hospitals and schools, and to the possibility of the “mass exodus of entire populations”. He warned that “under any temperature rise scenario, countries from Bangladesh to China, India and the Netherlands will all be at risk” ( UN News, 2023 ). This post will focus on the risk to a single UK region, but some of the resources cited will be of much more general interest. Climate Central describes itself as “an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about our changing climate and how it affects people’s lives.” Its work is organised into several programs, one of which is Sea Level Rise, which aims to provide accu
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Human Rights and Climate Change

The previous post referred to the view that fundamental law “already includes our obligations towards the future interests of people living now or of people who will live in the future.” (Behrendt, 2024). Legal obligations towards future generations were seen as grounded in the human rights expressed in texts such as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Olsson (2023) examined the relation between Climate Change and Human Rights in the context of the European Convention on Human Rights, giving prominence to Article 2 which establishes the right to life and Article 8 which states that everyone has the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence and referring to Article 34, which addresses the nature of victimhood in climate change. She cited three cases which were pending at the time of writing but have now been decided: KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland, Carême v. France, and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal
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Long Views

The Summit of the Future is a United Nations event planned for New York in September. “ At the Summit , countries are expected to adopt a Pact for the Future that covers five areas: sustainable development and related financing; international peace and security; science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation; youth and future generations; and transforming global governance” (UN news, 2023). According to Pham (2024) the summit is “intended to revive a multilateral system built for a different era”. She claims that “no other platform for reforming global governance can compete with a summit that convenes all countries, great and small.” Pham described the initial draft of the Pact for the Future as “a timid text” characterised by reaffirmations rather than decisions and stressed the need for it to “look ahead to the governance of new and emerging global challenges”. However, she regards a proposed Declaration on Future Generations as an inspired idea. The Declaration “would
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Net Zero and the Law

On September 20 th , 2023, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced changes to the UK’s policies described as a ‘watering-down’ in a Guardian article ( Horton, 2023). The date of the proposed ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars was changed from 2030 to 2035; the plan for a complete phase-out of gas boiler installations by 2035 was changed to a reduction by 80%; plans to fine landlords who failed to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency were dropped; and the prime minister confirmed that his party would not take forward policies “such as taxing airlines properly and informing the public of the carbon footprint of meat”. On April 18 th , 2024, Scotland’s Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllen stated that Scotland’s 2030 climate change target could not be met, though its 2045 target remained. Fankhauser (2024) pointed out that the 2030 target of a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 1990 had been set in law in the Emissions Reduction Targe
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