The Committee on Climate Change today recommended a carbon budget for 2023-27 and a target for emissions reductions in 2030 – halfway between now and 2050. The recommended target for 2030, to cut emissions by 60% relative to 1990 levels (46% relative to current levels), would then require a 62% emissions reduction from 2030 to meet the 2050 target in the Climate Change Act.

It implies a back-ended path for emissions reductions over the next four decades, and therefore sets a minimum level of ambition in 2030 compatible with the 2050 target. The Committee estimates that the recommended target can be achieved at a cost of less than 1% of GDP (i.e. a fraction of one year’s growth over the next two decades). In order to achieve deep emissions cuts required in the period to 2030 the Committee recommended that the carbon budgets currently in l;egislation (covering the period to 2022) should be tightened to reflect a 37% reduction in GHGs in 2020 relative to 1990 (from the currently legislated 34% cut) which could be raised further again to 42% once the EU has moved to more ambitious climate change targets. New carbon budgets should be legislated by summer 2011, as required under the Climate Change Act.

In making its recommendations, the Committee set out a detailed assessment of opportunities for reducing emissions in the UK over the next two decades. This assessment shows how the 2030 target could be achieved through a combination of the following measures:

• radical decarbonisation and reform of the electricity market
• widespread development and deployment of low-carbon vehicles
• national transformation of homes and non-residential buildings
• halving emissions from industry by 2030
• widespread use of more carbon-efficient practices on farms

More information on the report including further details on the individual measures above can be found on the Committee on Climate Change website