The Climate Change Committee has advised the UK government on the Seventh Carbon Budget, which sets a legal limit for the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions from 2038 to 2042.
The Committee stresses the importance of including international aviation and shipping emissions in the budget to effectively limit global warming. The UK government needs to implement regulations to include these emissions in the carbon budgets and the Net Zero target, which is currently pending.
Industry experts also weigh in on the impact on the shipping sector. Aoife O’Leary, CEO of Opportunity Green, noted that the shipping sector could reduce emissions by 62% by 2040 and approach zero emissions by 2050. She highlights the UK’s reliance on international regulations to achieve these reductions, suggesting a high carbon levy on international shipping emissions could be an important tool for progress.
Nuala Doyle, Policy Officer at The SASHA Coalition, commented that biofuels and fossil LNG should only play a small role in the maritime fuel mix if the UK is to stay within its carbon budget. She advocates for policy support to transition the sector to hydrogen e-fuels and urges the government to expand the emissions trading system to cover international shipping, generating funds to support e-fuel producers access investment.
The Committee also advises that the government should aim to reduce emissions domestically rather than relying on international credits (or “carbon units”) to meet the budget, as this could undermine the UK’s climate leadership and may not be reliable.
Achieving the Seventh Carbon Budget would require significant decarbonisation across various sectors, but it is possible and could lead to new investments, job creation, and improved energy security, the Committee finds.
