Letter to the Climate Change Committee – International Context for the 5th carbon budget

Sandbag is eager to see a strong 5^th carbon budget put in place that ensures the UK can fully meet its international obligations and cost-effectively meet its 2050 target.

This will require building in appropriate margins of error when estimating our future EU commitments at such an advanced stage; it will require building in flexibility to accommodate any increase in Europe’s commitments over time; it will require that the abatement effort to meet the 2050 goal is not unrealistically deferred; and finally it will require clear accounting and strong governance to ensure appropriate measures are put in place to get us there.

We provide some specific recommendations on these themes in the letter attached which we hope might inform the Climate Change Committee’s formal advice on the 5^th carbon budget.