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The UK Government on Thursday, January 30, 2025, announced their five-year UN mandated climate action plan (Nationally Determined Contribution) reaffirming the commitment of cutting emissions by 81% by 2035 – a pledge made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan (COP29) last year.
The submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), announced by Britain’s climate minister Ed Miliband in a written statement to parliament, is the formal paperwork required by the UN body which keeps track of each country’s targets.
The submission did not set out new policies or detailed sector-by-sector plans, but summarised the government’s work to date on reducing emissions. It promised more details further down the line.
“Looking ahead, we will deliver an updated cross-economy plan to meet our climate targets in due course, with full detail of policy packages for all sectors,” the document said.
Britain’s announcement of more ambitious targets was seen by many as one of the few bright spots at November’s COP29, which was overshadowed by concerns that Donald Trump’s election in the United States could damage the international push to halt a rise in global temperatures.
“The UK’s bold new climate plan means it is even better placed to cash in on the climate action boom,” UNFCCC chief, Simon Stiell, said in a statement reacting to the submission.
“Other countries, across the G20 and around the world, should follow suit. No one can afford to miss out.”
In another reaction, Matilda Borgström, UK campaigner at 350.org, said: “An ambitious climate target on paper is a useful signal to the rest of the world of the kind of ambition that is needed to tackle climate change and bring down energy bills due to high gas prices. More can be done, but this is indeed a significant step forward. Yet the climate goal explicitly excludes emissions from aviation which is a convenient miss given the government’s irresponsible plans for a third runway in Heathrow.”
WWF’s head of climate policy, Isabella O’Dowd, said: “The new UK climate plan is a step forward, and the Government is right to focus on restoring nature and cutting fossil fuels. But ambition alone won’t reduce emissions – we cannot afford major polluters like aviation to remain unchecked.
“With COP30 on the horizon, the Government must prove it can turn promises into action. Rather than wasting money on costly white elephants, it should back lasting solutions at home and overseas – like insulating homes, investing in clean power, and keeping our precious forests standing.”
COP30 will take place in Brazil in November 2025.
Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said: “In a new era of Trumpian politics, having a strong 2035 target is an important show of global climate leadership.
“Unfortunately, Rachel Reeves has now left the Energy Secretary with the unenviable task of making the numbers add up in the climate plan he is legally obliged to publish this year.
“He will have to squeeze even greater emissions reductions from other parts of the economy – such as homes, industry and transport – and will need greater sums of money from the Spending Review to do so.”
