The Climate and Nature Bill 2024-25

The Climate and Nature Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, and its second reading took place on 24 January 2025.

The ‘CAN’ bill is a Private Member’s Bill (PMB), and was introduced by Roz Savage (Liberal Democrats).

The bill did not progress after discussions between the bill’s sponsors and the government resulted in an agreement. At the end of the debate, a vote was taken for the debate to be adjourned, with 120 for and 7 against. The second reading debate is scheduled to continue on 11 July 2025, but the bill is unlikely to progress any further

Why has the bill been introduced?

The bill aims to ensure that “policy and action on the climate and nature crises is science-led and people-oriented”. It follows a series of other similar PMBs on this topic from the Green Party and the Labour Party.

The latest was the Climate and Nature Bill (2023-24), a presentation bill which was not timetabled for any debate, introduced by Alex Sobel (Labour).

What would the bill do?

The bill would set the UK new legally binding targets for climate and nature, as well give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve these targets.

The long title is a Bill to “require the United Kingdom to achieve climate and nature targets; to give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve those targets; to establish a Climate and Nature Assembly to advise the Secretary of State in creating that strategy; to give duties to the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee regarding the strategy and targets; and for connected purposes.”

Duty to achieve climate and nature targets

The bill would create a duty for the Secretary of State to ensure that the UK implements and achieves new climate change and nature targets. These targets would:

• require the UK to reduce emissions in line with its nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the achievement of the Paris Agreement, and
• require it to halt and reverse its contribution to the degradation and loss of nature by fulfilling its commitments under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Bill includes provisions for the devolved administrations to agree to the targets applying to devolved matters.

Joined up strategy

The bill would require the Secretary of State to create and implement a joined-up strategy on both climate change and nature, termed the ‘climate and nature delivery strategy’. This strategy would be created in collaboration with the public through a citizens’ assembly, and would follow ‘fundamental principles’ set out in the bill, including:

• limiting CO₂ emissions to no more than the UK’s NDC,
• reducing CO₂ emissions from imports at the same rate as terrestrial emissions,
• reducing the UK’s emissions from other greenhouse gases at a level consistent with international obligations,
• ending exploration, extraction, export and import of fossil fuels,
• minimising damage to ecosystems and enhancing, restoring and expanding these ecosystems,
• adhering to the mitigation and conservation hierarchy,
• avoiding, restoring or offsetting the international impacts of UK production, consumption and trade, and
• setting out a process for decision-making on energy-projects, favouring community energy projects under 100MW over large scale energy projects.

The Bill includes provisions for the devolved administrations to agree to the strategy for devolved matters.

Advisory and monitoring bodies

The bill would give duties to both the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to evaluate, monitor and report on delivery of the targets and strategy. It would also require the CCC and JNCC to consult and work with the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), a public body that holds government to account on environmental matters.

Stakeholder reactions

Many MPs and Members of the House of Lords have expressed broad support for the bill. 191 MPs and 54 Peers have signed up to support campaign group Zero Hour in delivering the bill, and several political parties have endorsed it (Alliance, Green Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the Social Democratic and Labour Party ‘SDLP’).

At second reading of the bill, some MPs criticised the decision not to push the bill to a vote. Roz Savage committed to working with government on the intended outcomes of the bill, and to supporting wider cross-party collaboration on climate and nature.