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Dear John,

It’s here, finally. The UK government has published its climate plan – the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan. [1]

This is a massive moment. It’s been such a journey to get here, so thank you for all your support along the way. Every donation to our legal cases, every petition signed, every email to an MP, every local action group campaign – they all led up to today.

After we took the previous government to court, twice, over weak climate plans, Keir Starmer’s government had to deliver.

We wanted something bold. Something for people and planet. Something fair and sustainable. Something that would give future generations a world worth calling home.

We got… some of the above 😅

We’ll need to study all 238 pages of the plan in detail. For now, from our initial assessment, there are encouraging signs that the government is trying to get the UK’s climate action back on track.

Here are the headlines:

We’re pleased to see:

A commitment to create 800,000 clean energy jobs by 2030 compared to 430,000 currently.Investment in nature restoration e.g. tree planting to help reduce emissions and cut flood risk.A focus on the fast roll out of electric vehicles - including more public chargers.A reduction in electricity costs for energy intensive industry to reduce pressures for businesses to relocate.A set of policies that together will meet the UK's legally-binding emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2035. That's according to their calculations though - we'll check their workings!

But we’d have liked to see more ambition, like:

More information on how it’ll cut energy costs and insulate homes. Hopefully this’ll come in the Warm Homes plan later this year.More help for lower-income households to switch to clean, green heat pumps.A proper plan for bringing much-needed bus services back across the country – they’ve been halved in the last decade.Polluter pays taxes, like a frequent flyer levy, to reduce pollution and fund green measures.Deeper emission cuts. Our legally binding targets are the bare minimum – we can and should do more to limit climate breakdown. 
All in all, this is a step up from the dismal half-plans the last government made. Crucially, the government has signalled that it recognises that meaningful climate action isn’t just a legal duty – it’s a massive social and economic opportunity too.

Our policy experts and lawyers are already scrutinising the plan. We’ll take time to pore over the details and we’ll be in touch with a full summary of whether, and how, it delivers.

What’s next?

This is the result of years of campaigning by Friends of the Earth, many other organisations and hundreds of thousands of ordinary people like you. But this isn’t an ending – it’s just the beginning.

Climate plans need to turn into climate action and that will need money. It’s only fair that the people who’ve got us into this mess are the ones who pay to clean it up.

Join us in demanding that those who profit from pollution pay.

I'LL SIGN THE PETITION ( [link removed] )

We’ll be in touch soon.

Danny
Campaigner, Friends of the Earth

NOTES: 
[1] Carbon budget and growth delivery plan ( [link removed] ), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

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