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Chris Packham

Government concedes abandonment of green policies was unlawful following legal challenges by Chris Packham

A legal settlement has been agreed between the government and TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham CBE over his challenge to a decision to axe green pledges.

Posted on 29 October 2024

The government confirmed it would reconsider decisions to delay transitions away from petrol and diesel vehicles, gas boilers, off-grid fossil fuel domestic heating, and minimum energy ratings for rented homes in its revision of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) by May 2025.

The legal claim from Mr Packham challenging the government was launched at the end of 2023, following Rishi Sunak’s announcement in September 2023 that he would be dropping a number of policies from the UK’s CBDP.

This included abandoning:

  • the transition away from petrol and diesel free cars and vans by 2030.
  • the phasing out of new and replacement gas boilers by 2035.
  • a ban on installing fossil fuel heating in homes not connected to the gas grid from 2026.
  • a policy to require all privately rented homes to be EPC band C or better for all new tenancies from 2025 and all tenancies from 2028.

These measures were originally introduced to the CBDP in March 2023 following a successful legal challenge by Friends of the Earth (represented by Leigh Day, David Wolfe KC and Catherine Dobson) which argued that more detail was needed in order to clarify how the UK would reach its net zero by 2050 target, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.

Mr Packham was granted permission to bring a judicial review challenging the abandonment of these policies in March 2024, and further ground was given permission to be added to the claim in June 2024.

Following the election of the new government in July 2024, an agreement was reached between Mr Packham and the current administration that the previous government had acted unlawfully.

The government also conceded that, directly as a result of Friends of the Earth’s successful judicial review of the CBDP, the abandonment of these policies failed to meet its obligations under Section 13 of the Climate Change Act 2008. It conceded that the information available to it was insufficient to conclude that its plan, including a 10% shortfall in quantified emissions savings, would enable the carbon budgets to be met.

Following confirmation from the government that it would halt the abandonment of green policies and concede on the Section 13 grounds, Mr Packham has agreed to withdraw his judicial review, which was due to be heard in November 2024.

Mr Packham is represented by Rowan Smith, Carol Day and Julia Eriksen at Leigh Day and barristers David Wolfe KC (Matrix), Catherine Dobson (39 Essex Chambers) and Toby Fisher (Matrix).

Chris Packham said:

“The former government’s electioneering saw them unlawfully disregarding key elements of the UK's plans to aim for Net Zero. Critical policies with quantifiable carbon reduction outcomes were dumped without any thought for the impact on those plans or that government’s legal responsibilities under the Climate Change Act. It was reckless and irresponsible short-termism. Further, it was only due to my legal challenge that a staggering lack of transparency around modification of carbon reduction policies was revealed. In a time of terrifying crisis, the public and the scientists were not informed of dangerous decisions being made by a department that wasn’t even reading essential consultation summaries.

“I’m very pleased that the new government has willingly settled and pledged to do better, and I look forward to a forthcoming meeting with Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero Ed Miliband to discuss future progress addressing climate breakdown. I would like to thank my excellent legal team from Leigh Day and Matrix and Essex Chambers and all those who kindly supported my Crowd Justice Appeal. We are in peril, our planet’s future health is in the balance, we cannot allow governments to play fast and loose with our future.”

Leigh Day environment team solicitor Carol Day said:

“We are pleased that an agreement has been reached between our client and the government, avoiding the need for this judicial review to be heard in court. The policies abandoned by the previous government were identified by the Climate Change Committee as critical to meeting our net zero targets. Our client welcomes the current administration’s recognition that to remove those policies was unlawful."

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Carol Day
Environment Judicial review Planning Wildlife

Carol Day

Carol founded the firm's environmental litigation service in 2013

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Rowan Smith
Climate change Environment Human rights Judicial review Planning Wildlife

Rowan Smith

Rowan Smith is a senior associate solicitor in the human rights department.

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Julia Eriksen
Climate change Environment Human rights Planning

Julia Eriksen

Julia is an associate solicitor in the human rights team