Sunderland

Ards and North Down

East Dunbartonshire

Midlothian

Solihull

Antrim and Newtownabbey

East Lothian

Monmouthshire [Sir Fynwy GB-FYN]

Somerset

Angus

Eilean Siar

Merton

Southend-on-Sea

Bath and North East Somerset

Enfield

Moray

Surrey

Blackburn with Darwen

England

Merthyr Tydfil [Merthyr Tudful GB-MTU]

Stoke-on-Trent

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

East Renfrewshire

Mid-Ulster

Stirling

Bedford

East Riding of Yorkshire

North Ayrshire

Southampton

Barking and Dagenham

Essex

Northumberland

Sutton

Brent

East Sussex

North East Lincolnshire

Staffordshire

Bexley

Falkirk

Newcastle upon Tyne

Stockton-on-Tees

Belfast City

Fife

Norfolk

South Tyneside

Bridgend [Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr GB-POG]

Flintshire [Sir y Fflint GB-FFL]

Nottingham

Swansea [Abertawe GB-ATA]

Blaenau Gwent

Fermanagh and Omagh

Northern Ireland

Swindon

Birmingham

Gateshead

North Lanarkshire

Southwark

Buckinghamshire

Glasgow City

North Lincolnshire

Tameside

Barnet

Gloucestershire

Newry, Mourne and Down

Telford and Wrekin

Brighton and Hove

Greenwich

North Northamptonshire

Thurrock

Barnsley

Gwynedd

North Somerset

Torbay

Bolton

Halton

Neath Port Talbot [Castell-nedd Port Talbot GB-CTL]

Torfaen [Tor-faen]

Blackpool

Hampshire

Nottinghamshire

Trafford

Bracknell Forest

Havering

North Tyneside

Tower Hamlets

Bradford

Hackney

Newham

Vale of Glamorgan, The [Bro Morgannwg GB-BMG]

Bromley

Herefordshire

Newport [Casnewydd GB-CNW]

Warwickshire

Bristol, City of

Hillingdon

North Yorkshire

West Berkshire

Bury

Highland

Oldham

United Kingdom

By 2030 we want all of England’s soils to be managed sustainably;We will bring 75% of Sites of Special Scientific Interest into favourable condition by 2042; andWe will develop a Nature Recovery Network creating or restoring 500,000 hectares&nbsp;of wildlife rich habitat.




England will have at least 12% woodland cover by mid-century, contributing to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;



We intend to spend over £500 million of the £640 million Nature for Climate Fund on trees and woodlands between 2020 and 2025. With this funding, we aim to at least treble woodland creation rates by the end of this Parliament, reflecting England’s contribution to meeting the UK’s overall target of planting 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this Parliament.

After setting out an aim for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 in the UK Hydrogen Strategy we are now doubling our ambition to up to 10GW by 2030, subject to affordability and value for money, with at least half from electrolytic hydrogen.

support the establishment of at least two low carbon CCUS clusters by the mid- 2020s and a further two by 2030 through which we aim to capture 20-30MtCO2 per year





Our aspiration is for zero emission routes connecting different parts of the UK by 2030.&nbsp;

By 2025 we are committing to have at least five UK SAF plants under construction and a SAF mandate in place with a target of at least 10% SAF by 2030.

We will target airport operations to be zero emission by 2040 and support further reductions within the existing aviation system.

We are setting a target for domestic flights to reach net zero by 2040, and next year&nbsp;will launch a consultation on how this will be implemented.&nbsp;

We are introducing a CO2 emissions reduction trajectory that sees aviation emissions peak in 2019. This trajectory from 2025 to 2050, is based on our "High ambition" scenario, and sets ambitious in-sector targets of 35.4 MtCO2e in 2030, 28.4 MtCO2e in 2040, and 19.3 MtCO2e in 2050.

By 2030, 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity with potential for rapid expansion post-2030 and see 1GW production capacity by 2025.

By 2022, intend to launch the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund with £240M.

By 2024, £22Bn a year of public funding for R&D.

By 2023, first contracts to be allocated for the Hydrogen Business Model.

By 2023, enable up to 20% hydrogen blending on the netwroks.

By 2026, aim to consult in 2021 on 'hydrogen-ready' boilers

By 2030, prepare for hydrogen for heat trials.

Between 2023 and 2032, use low carbon hydrogen enabled by 5GW production capacity to save 41MTCo2.

From 2023, commitment to purchase only ultra low or zero emission buses.

By 2025, the TCFD aligned disclosure obligations to be mandatory across UK

By 2024, ensure that each carbon unit credited to the net UK carbon account is cancelled.

By 2030, commit the UK to the World Bank's Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative.

By 2050, transform the UK Continental Shelf to be a net zero basin.

By 2025, commit ¬£122M funding to a new Heat Network Transformation Programme.

By 2030, triple the amount of biomethane in the grid under the Green Gas SUpport Scheme.

By 2025, fuel poor households to achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band D.

From 2022, the Warm Home Discount to be extended to 2025/26 to expand total spending from ¬£350M to ¬£475M a year.

From 2022-2026, Energy Company Obligation to support fuel poor consumers with up to ¬£300 on their energy bills.

By 2032, ¬£1Bn of funding to cut emissions by 1.3Mt Co2e.

BY 2030, all rented non-domestic buildings will be EPC Band B

By 2028, ¬£50M to support delivery of upgrading homes to meet EPC band C.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end from 2030 and hybrids by 2035.

¬£160M scheme launched a competitive process to support the development of offshore wind manufacturing infrastructure.

By 2030, support the delivery of the sector's target of 60% UK content in offshore wind projects.

By 2022, establish the role which BECCS plays in reducing carbon emissions across the economy.

By 2040, aim to build a commercially viable fusion power plant.

By early 2030s, provide ¬£385M in Advanced Nuclear Fund for the next generation of nuclear technology to develop SMR design and build an AMR demonstrator.

By 2030, 40Gw in offshore wind and 1GW in floating wind, alongside low-cost renewable technologies.

The UK aims for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

By 2028, grow the installation of electric heat pumps from 30,000 a year to 600,000 a year.

By 2030, the government will facilitate the deployment of CCUS in four clusters.

By 2030, offshore wind to reach 40GW including 1GW floating wind.

By 2032, industry and buildings to reduce emissions by up to 230MtCo2.

By 2027, commitment to raise total R+D investment to 2.4% of GDP.

By 2030, capture 10MT of Co2 and invest up to ¬£1Bn to support the establishment of CCUS in four industrial clusters.

By 2030, end sale of new petro and diesel cars and vans and provide ¬£2.8Bn package of measures to support industry and consumers.

By 2030, UK to aim for 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity and pioneer hydrogen heating trials.

By 2030, offshore wind capacity is planned to quadruple and bring new jobs to ports and coastal areas.

By 2030, support up to 250,000 green jobs as part of the Ten Point Plan.

Between 2022-2026, ¬£500M of the ¬£1.5Bn voucher scheme for low income households

Between 2022-2026, ¬£4.7Bn for low-income households to support energy bills.

From 2020, over six years, to offer ¬£6.7Bn to the vulnerable and energy poor.

By 2028, electric heat pumps to be installed from 30,000 a year to 600,000 a year.

By 2032, reduce up to 230Mt Co2 across power, buildings and industry and create jobs 220,000 jobs.

BY 2027, raise total R+D investment to 2.4% of GDP.

By 2030, 40Gw in offshore wind to generate 60,000 jobs in the UK.

By 2030, 250,000 new green jobs as set out in the ten point plan.

By 2030, 40,000 new jobs for zero-emissions vehicles and new CCSU technology.

By 2025, a Hydrogen Neighbourhood village will be trialing.

By 2026, from 2022 extend the energy company obligation and warm discount to ¬£475M a year.

By 2030, require all rented non-domestic buildings to be Band B on Energy Performance

By 2030, the CCUS will aim to capture 10Mt of carbon dioxide a year.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end from 2030.

By 2030, ¬£36Bn mobilised by the private sector for investing in green jobs.

By 2050, the energy innovation strategy to annually generate ¬£54 billion of business opportunities for the UK.

By 2023, the HSE to enable up to 20% hydrogen blending on the network.

By 2024/5, the government to provide ¬£240M for the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.

By 2030, 8000 new jobs in the hydrogen sector.

By 2030, ¬£1Bn will be to support the establishment of carbon capture and storage in four industrial clusters and create up to 6,600 jobs.

By 2030, deliver the ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity

By 2030, ¬£2-3Bn to be invested in carbon storage technology.

By 2025, OGCI to meet 0.25-0.2% methane intensity commitment.

By 2030, UK has the ambition to get to 5GW for low carbon hydrogen production capacity.

By 2030, four clusters will be formed for carbon capture.

By 2030, 50% reduction from 2018 emission levels.

By 2030, achieve a 60Mt reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

By 2030, to achieve 50% local energy and decomission oil and gas.

By 2030, ¬£14-16Bn to be invested in new technologies, especially CCSU and Hydrogen at scale.

From 2021-2025, over the four years, BEIS will provide the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence with £2M to fund offshore wind projects.

By 2040, the first net zero cluster to be developed.

By 2030, two more carbon capture clusters.

By 2025, build two carbon capture clusters.

By 2030, 20 TWH of fossil fuels to be replaced with renewables.

By 2050, emissions to be reduced by 90% since 2018 level.

By 2035, emissions to be reduced by two thirds.

By 2030, the government will facilitate the deployment of CCUS in four low carbon clusters and one net zero free cluster.

Between 2020-2025, there will be at least £51Bn investment in water infrastructure in England and Wales

By 2030, there will be an advancement of floating offshore wind technology of 1GW.

For 2050, £100M has been directed towards Direct Air Capture technologies.

Investment in low carbon technology for 2030s and 2040s.

By 2050, NIC recommended to reduce water leakage by 50%

Since 2019, £469M will be dedicated for flood resilience between 2020-2025.

On February 20, 2025, the claimant, Alison Caffyn, filed an application for judicial review challenging Shropshire Council’s decision to grant planning permission for an intensive poultry unit (IPU) at a local farm. The facility was expected to generate large volumes of manure, much of which would be treated in an anaerobic digester to produce digestate for use as fertilizer. The claim focused on the adequacy of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conducted under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, and on compliance with the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.


The claimant argued, relying on the Supreme Court’s reasoning in R (Finch) v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20, that the Council was required to assess the indirect environmental effects of spreading manure and digestate on farmland and watercourses. She emphasized that ammonia emissions and nitrogen deposition from poultry units already placed designated sites in Shropshire under severe ecological pressure, with levels reaching 200–600% of critical thresholds ￼. The Council, however, treated the transfer of manure to an anaerobic digester as a mitigation measure and did not conduct a substantive assessment of the downstream impacts of digestate spreading.
Fordham J held that the Council’s approach was unlawful. Although officers had collected information, they failed to make the evaluative judgments required by Finch on causation and on the capability of meaningful assessment of indirect effects ￼. The judge found that processing manure into digestate did not break the causal chain between the IPU and subsequent environmental effects, and that the impacts of digestate—such as nutrient pollution, ammonia emissions, and contributions to climate-relevant air and water quality degradation—were sufficiently connected to the project to require assessment ￼. The Council had also erred in excluding certain “in-combination” projects from its Habitats Regulations assessment.
On June 17, 2025, the Court quashed the planning permission and ordered the Council to pay the claimant’s costs￼.


Oceana UK, represented by public interest law firm Leigh Day, filed a complaint on August 22, 2024 against the United Kingdom's decision on the issuing of 28 licenses for oil and gas exploration. Between October 2023 and May 2024, the UK, through the North Sea Transition Authority, issued 82 oil and gas exploration licenses, with Oceana UK contending the unlawfulness of 28 of those licenses. The licenses cover 226 blocks in the North Sea, with over ⅔ of the licenses residing in marine protected areas. The 82 licenses issued are expected to result in 600 million barrels of oil equivalent, while oil spills were not considered in the impact assessments of the issued licenses. 

Oceana UK contends that these licenses were unlawful on several grounds, including failure to consider environmental risks, the dismissal of expert advice, and climate impact oversight. 21 out of the 28 licenses are inside designated marine protected areas, which typically protect wildlife like harbour porpoise, grey seals, and puffins. Oceana UK asserts that the potential for accidental oil spills in these areas was unlawfully excluded in the environmental impact assessments of the licenses, with the occurrence of “more than two oil or chemical spills every day last year from oil and gas developments in UK waters”. The spills over the last year resulted in over 82,000 kg of oil spilling into the sea, posing risks for nearby habitats. Oceana UK also outlines the need for environmental impact assessments to account for emissions, referencing the precedent law established by the Finch ruling. 

Oceana UK also contends that the dismissal of expert advice from independent government advisors was unlawful, referencing the UK government’s overlooking of advice from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England when granting the licenses. Oceana UK asserts that this expert advice was not adequately considered in the environmental assessments conducted by the government. 

The case was heard in the High Court on 26-27 March 2025. 

Dr. Andrew Boswell, represented by Leigh Day, filed a complaint on February 16, 2024, against the first respondent, the Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, for granting the application of a development consent order to the second respondent, Net Zero Teesside Power Limited and Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited. The plaintiff challenged the issuing of the development consent order under section 114 of the Planning Act 2008 “for a new gas-fired electricity generating station at Teesside with Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage”. The plaintiff contends that the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero committed a legal error when assessing the significance of the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the power plant. 

The Planning Act 2008 governs nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), requiring the Secretary of State to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment and to consider National Policy Statements before issuing development consent. In this case, the relevant National Policy Statement is EN-1, which “addresses GHG emissions and the UK’s net-zero targets.”

The plaintiff provided four grounds for judicial review, as follows. 

Ground 1 - The claimant alleged that the Secretary of State failed to provide legally adequate reasons for its conclusion that the development of the power plant would contribute to the transition to net zero. The claimant contended that the Secretary of State relied on the Institute of Environmental Management Assessment (IEMA) guidance to find that the project constituted greenhouse gas emissions with a significant adverse effect, deeming it incompatible with net-zero trajectories. On this point, the plaintiff alleged inconsistencies in the Secretary of State’s decision.  

Ground 2 - The plaintiff argued that the Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero erred in its interpretation of paragraph 5.2.2 of National Policy Statement EN-1, which states that CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-based infrastructure are significant. The plaintiff alleged that the Secretary of State misapplied the paragraph by also using it to shape the policy weight given to those emissions in the planning balance. 

Ground 3 - The plaintiff alleged that the Secretary of State was unlawfully endorsing the use of the IEMA guidance while also assessing significance in different ways without providing adequate reasoning.

Ground 4 - The plaintiff challenged the Secretary of State’s need for the project. 

On August 20, 2024, the High Court rejected all four grounds for challenge, dismissing the application for judicial review. Dr. Andrew Boswell appealed the decision on the first three grounds introduced at the High Court, which the Court of Appeal later dismissed on May 22, 2025. The Court of Appeal held that there was no legal inconsistency in accepting the IEMA guidance and determining that the development contributed to net zero goals, that paragraph 5.2.2 was lawfully interpreted, and that the Secretary of State could lawfully rely on IEMA guidance as long as their reasoning was clear. 

Dr. Andrew Boswell has now submitted a new claim for judicial review along with Good Law Project, contending that the government subsidy for the project unlawfully underwrites the developer's loans.  

Between October 2023 and May 2024, over 82 licenses for exploratory oil and gas drilling operations were approved by the North Sea Transition Authority and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Subsequently, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) published Appropriate Assessments, justifying the licensing with minimal environmental damage. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England responded to the licensing agreement by highlighting the risks to Marine Protected Areas posed by accidental spills. 

In late May 2024, the Ocean Alliance Against Offshore Drilling (OCEANA) filed a complaint with the High Court of the United Kingdom to determine the lawfulness of the environmental assessments. The claims consist of the following:
- Failure to consider the impact of accidents, which is contrary to the requirements of the Habitats regime and contrary to the duty to take reasonable steps to obtain the relevant information to reach a rational decision.
- Failure to consider the ongoing impact of climate change on the relevant marine sites and environment.
- A flawed assumption that only 50% of the licensed drilling will take place.
- Failure to adequately assess the cumulative impacts of the licensed activity on the relevant sites.
- Failure to consider or pay due regard to the advice of the JNCC.

On March 26, 2025, the High Court held hearings with an expected decision by July 2025. 

Geography

United Kingdom

Recent cases