Mind the Gap

ClientEarth asserts that while the UK's Climate Change Act 2008 is legally ambitious, successive governments have failed to implement the necessary governance to meet long-term targets. The report highlights a persistent 'policy gap' for the fourth carbon budget and a decline in investor confidence due to abrupt policy shifts, such as the withdrawal of carbon capture and storage (CCS) funding. It recommends the urgent publication of a detailed, annually updated Emissions Reduction Plan and the restoration of cross-departmental coordination and transparent emissions tracking.

• The UK government has failed to close the policy gap for the fourth carbon budget (2023-2027) for five years, which constitutes a breach of the legal duty under section 13(1) of the Climate Change Act.
• Abrupt and inconsistent policy changes have damaged investor confidence and increased the potential cost of the UK's low-carbon transition. This is evidenced by the UK's drop in the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index from 8th place in 2015 to 13th in May 2016.
• The government's decision to withdraw funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS) was made without consultation or warning, which the report describes as damaging to the relationship between government and industry.
• The Carbon Plan, a key instrument for guiding long-term climate policy, has been neglected since 2011, failing to be updated annually as promised and lacking sufficient detail to constitute actual 'proposals and policies' for the fourth carbon budget.
• Governance mechanisms for cross-government coordination have deteriorated, including the abandonment of policy milestones and the replacement of the National Emissions Target (NET) Board with the less transparent Interministerial Group on Clean Growth (IGCG).
• Current Updated Energy and Emissions (UEE) Projections are insufficient for public accountability because they are static, lack policy-level granularity, and do not allow the 'normal person' to see the impact of individual decisions on carbon budgets.
• The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) cannot compel government action because it is not empowered to prescribe the specific policy mix the government must adopt.
• The report recommends that the government publish a new Emissions Reduction Plan by the end of 2016 that sets out a single, coherent policy path to close the fourth and fifth carbon budget gaps.

APA

ClientEarth (2016). Mind the Gap. https://www.clientearth.org/media/oyqobbo3/2016-10-07-mind-the-gap-reviving-the-climate-change-act-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Mind the Gap. 2016. https://www.clientearth.org/media/oyqobbo3/2016-10-07-mind-the-gap-reviving-the-climate-change-act-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Mind the Gap |date=September 2016 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/oyqobbo3/2016-10-07-mind-the-gap-reviving-the-climate-change-act-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2016mind, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Mind the Gap}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/oyqobbo3/2016-10-07-mind-the-gap-reviving-the-climate-change-act-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }