R (oao Friends of the Earth et al) v Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (Net Zero Challenge)

United Kingdom

Jurisdiction: High Court of Justice, England and Wales

Principle law(s): Climate Change Act

Side A: R (oao Friends of the Earth) (Ngo)

Side B: Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (Government)

Core objectives: Whether the SoS’s adoption of the Net Zero Strategy did not discharge his duties under the Climate Change Act 2008, and whether the adoption of the Heat and Buildings Strategy has meant that the SoS has breached the Equality Act 2010. In relation to ClientEarth’s and the Good Law Project’s claims: whether the SoS’s adoption of the Net Zero Strategy did not discharge his duties under the Climate Change Act 2008, and whether these duties had been interpreted compatibly with human rights obligations.

Summary

On October 19, 2021, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (Kwasi Kwarteng; the “SoS”) adopted the Net Zero Strategy (NZS) and the Heat and Buildings Strategy (HBS). The NZS is the Government’s economy-wide decarbonization strategy, and the HBS is the specific strategy for decarbonizing heating and homes. On January 12, 2022, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland (“FoE”) filed a claim for judicial review against the SoS, in relation to the NZS and the HBS. FoE argues that both strategies were unlawfully adopted.

In relation to the NZS, FoE argues that the SoS breached sections 13 and 14 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (“CCA”). The CCA was the first piece of legislation anywhere in the world to set domestically enforceable carbon reduction targets. Sections 13 and 14 of the CCA require the SoS to produce policies which will enable upcoming carbon budgets set under the CCA to be met. FoE submits that the SoS has not complied with these duties, because whilst the NZS contains targets for carbon emissions reduction, it does not quantify what impact its policies will have in reducing emissions, or the timescales for these to happen. FoE also argues that the SoS breached section 149 of the Equality Act 2010; the public sector equality duty. This is because the SoS has not assessed what impact the strategy will have on people with protected characteristics, such as disabled people, people of color and older people.

The environmental legal charity ClientEarth and the NGO the Good Law Project filed separate judicial review challenges to the NZS in the week commencing January 17, 2022, also in relation to the CCA.

FoE, along with ClientEarth and Good Law Project, received permission to proceed on all grounds on 1 March 2022. The court found that the cases all had a realistic prospects of success, and merited a full substantive hearing. The grounds from all organizations will be heard together. A hearing is expected to take place in 2022.

A separate claim, unrelated to the cases issued by FoE, ClientEarth and Good Law Project, was brought by claimants, Aghaji and Garforth, against the Government’s NZS alleging that the proposals and policies set out are insufficient to meet the UK’s sixth carbon budget. The claimants filed for judicial review in late March 2022 and are currently awaiting a decision on whether they have permission to proceed to a full hearing.

Case documents

Related laws and policies

This law implements United Kingdom legislation

Climate Change Act

Passed in 2008 Legislative

The Act provides a long-term framework to improve carbon management, to help the transition to a low carbon economy, encourage investment in low carbon goods and provide an international signal. The Act establishes a legally binding target for the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net z...