The UK government is being taken to court by two separate environmental pressure groups over inadequate net zero strategies.

The groups say the Government had failed to set out sufficient policies to tackle climate change and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in its net zero strategy

Environmental law group ClientEarth and eco campaigning community Friends of the Earth both announced legal action this week, saying the Government had failed to set out sufficient policies to tackle climate change and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in its net zero strategy.

The strategy, published in October 2021, sets out how the UK will remove carbon from power, shift to electric vehicles – including through a ZEV mandate – and start to phase out gas boilers.

But ClientEarth said the UK was not taking action at the pace needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change and that current policies will not reduce emissions enough to meet its legally binding carbon budgets.

Its legal experts stated: “We believe these failings mean the UK government has breached its legal duties under the 2008 Climate Change Act. What’s more, its approach risks the UK having to introduce more drastic measures in future and pushes the burden onto future generations, with disproportionate impacts on young people’s rights to life and to family and private life under the European Convention of Human Rights.”

The organisation is calling for real-world policies that ensure the UK succeeds on its net zero commitment.

Sam Hunter Jones, senior ClientEarth lawyer, commented: “On releasing the net zero strategy in October 2021, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Government had centred its plans on the principle of ‘leaving the environment in a better state for the next generation’ and releasing them of the financial burden of adapting to a warming planet.

“However, its own baseline forecasts show that the UK’s projected emissions in 2037 will be more than double the levels the Government is legally required to adhere to.”

ClientEarth also said the Government was relying heavily on unproven technologies whilst overlooking viable current solutions that would have immediate impact, including solutions recommended by its own advisors, the Climate Change Committee.

It’s already filed a claim against the Government this month; the Government will submit its defence and the Court will then decide whether to grant ClientEarth permission for a full hearing.

Friends of the Earth has also condemned the Government’s net zero plans – it says its experts have pored over the 400-page strategy and found it to be “riddled with holes and omissions”.

Major concerns include the Government not having made it clear whether it’s factored in the emissions that will result from its own policies, such as its £27bn road-building programme or plans for airport expansions.

FoE also has concerns over the lack of a commitment to end the use of fossil fuels and to investment to fund measures. Like ClientEarth, it’s also worried about an overreliance on technology that hasn’t even been rolled out yet, such as “sustainable” aviation fuel.

But its major issue is that the strategy doesn’t contain any assessment of the impact of the proposed policies – it’s all theoretical – and that there’s no way for parliament or the public to know whether the government is going to meet its legal targets.

Lawyer Katie de Kauwe commented: “A rapid and fair transition to a safer future requires a plan that shows how much greenhouse gas reduction the chosen policies will achieve, and by when. That the plan for achieving net zero is published without this information in it is very worrying, and we believe is unlawful.”

Like ClientEarth, FoE has filed papers with the high court asking for a judicial review into the Net Zero Strategy on the basis that it doesn’t comply with the Climate Change Act 2008, under which the Secretary of State has a legal obligation to set out how the UK will actually meet carbon reduction targets. It’s also taking the Government to court for failing to consider the impact of its October 2021 Heat and Buildings Strategy on protected groups; a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010.

The Government has commented: “The net zero strategy sets out specific, detailed measures we will take to transition to a low carbon economy, including helping businesses and consumers to move to clean and more secure, home-grown power, supporting hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs and leveraging up to £90bn of private investment by 2030.”

ClientEarth has previously brought and won three cases in front of the courts in the UK – on these three occasions, the courts have found the UK government to be breaching the law on NO2 pollution and have ordered ministers to produce new compliant air quality plans to tackle the problem.