A collection of overarching climate change-related parliamentary briefings and publications.
The House of Commons Library Climate Change Explainers (June 2020) are short briefings providing impartial analysis and explanation on climate topics. They include climate change fundamentals such as UK and global emissions, the science, and the history of international negotiations. They also provides a guide to understanding climate change policymaking and developments in approaches to addressing climate change.
A range of briefings on climate change are available from the Library and other parliamentary sources. The most recent, providing an overview of climate change policies across the UK, are set out below. Sector specific briefings are also available but not included here.
The Climate Change Act 2008 provides the framework for UK climate change policy. It established long-term statutory targets for the UK to decarbonise by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Under this the UK has a net-zero emissions target for 2050. The Act also established the Climate Change Committee as an independent body to advise the Government on setting its targets, report on progress, and put in place the framework to promote adaptation action.
House of Commons Library briefings are prepared to meet the demands of parliamentary business and should not be seen as comprehensive coverage of climate change policy. Details of the most recent briefings are set out below.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted during the 1992 Earth Summit. It entered into force in 1994 and has been ratified by 196 States or “Parties” to the Convention. The objective of the Treaty is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”
Every year a Conference of the Parties (COP) takes place. Parties have agreed, at COP21 in Paris in 2015, to “keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 oC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 oC”. For further information on this see the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology PostNote on Limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C (February 2019).
The UK, in partnership with Italy, was due to host the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow and Milan in October 2020, now postponed to November 2021. The UK Government will hold the Presidency of COP26; Alok Sharma is currently President designate of COP26. Further information on the UK’s preparations in the run up to the Conference can be found the UK COP26 website.
The following Library briefings cover COP26 and previous conferences:
Briefings on earlier conferences are also available on the Commons Library Website.
A general debate on the Introduction of UK-made zero-emission buses is scheduled for Tuesday 21 May at 9.30am in Westminster Hall. The Member leading the debate is Ian Paisley MP. The subject of the debate was determined by the Backbench Business Committee.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Swiss Government, creating a precedent that might encourage future climate litigation.
In 2022 industrialised countries may have achieved a 2009 pledge to provide US$100 billion annually to low income states to help them respond to climate change.
