Presenter and naturalist to challenge Rishi Sunak in High Court over climate commitments
Naturalist Chris Packham has announced he will take the UK Government to the High Court over Rishi Sunak’s plans to delay key climate commitments.
In September, the Prime Minister announced a set of net zero rollbacks which received widespread criticism from environmental campaigners. They including delays on essential climate commitments around vehicle emissions and gas boiler replacement.
Wildlife presenter and conservationist Chris Packham is now arguing that this was an unlawful decision and is mounting a judicial review, claiming that ministers breached their obligations under the Climate Change Act.
The 2008 Act set out legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Packham will argue that the secretaries of state made plans without considering how the Government would then meet the Carbon Budget’s Net Zero targets outlined in the Act.
Therefore the claim will seek to establish whether proposals laid out within a Carbon Budget Delivery Plan are legally meaningful.
Whilst Packham also claims that the decisions to roll-back climate commitments were done without informing or seeking advice from the Climate Change Committee, the Government’s own climate advisory board. He also believes Rishi Sunak made the decision without a public, industry or Parliament consultation.
Packham, who has previously talked to LFF about the need to take more drastic action against the government’s climate policy U-turns, is hoping the claim will set a precedent for all leaders, that they cannot, “act on a whim without facing the legal consequences”.
“It will enable legal scrutiny of decisions made, particularly ones which have such severe consequences in our changing world. Our politicians are not beyond the law,” Packham said.
“At a time of escalating global heating and biodiversity loss we must hold our elected representatives to account.”
Having written an initial letter to Rishi Sunak asking for the facts behind his decision on the net zero U-turn, Packham said his lawyers at Leigh Day Solicitors received no documentation to support its claims, leading him to now take the case to the High Court. Whilst the response was due in 14 days, however wasn’t received until 46 days later.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We strongly reject these claims and will be robustly defending this challenge. We have overdelivered on every carbon budget to date and these changes keep us on track to meet our legal net zero commitments. We routinely publish future emissions projections across all sectors and will continue to do so.”
A crowd funder has been launched to raise the £75,000 needed to mount the judicial review.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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