Countries that have signed and ratified the Paris Agreement are legally bound to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an agreed amount.
Countries that have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol are legally bound to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an agreed amount. A single European Union Kyoto Protocol reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions of -8% compared to base-year levels was negotiated for the first commitment period, and a Burden Sharing Agreement allocated the target between Member States of the European Union. Under this agreement, the UK reduction target was -12.5% on base-year levels. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was from 2008 to 2012.
The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol applies from 2013 to 2020 inclusive. For this second commitment period, the EU and the Member States communicated an independent quantified economy-wide emission reduction target of a 20 percent emission reduction by 2020 compared with 1990 levels (base year) (“the EU2020 target”). The EU2020 target is based on the understanding that it will be fulfilled jointly by the European Union and the Member States. The EU2020 target is unconditional and supported by EU legislation in place since 2009 (The EU Climate and Energy Package). This Kyoto target covered the UK, and the relevant Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories for whom the ratification is extended.
The Climate Change Act became UK Law on the 26th November 2008. This legislation introduced a new, more ambitious and legally binding target for the UK to reduce GHG emissions to 80% below base year by 2050, with legally binding five year GHG budgets. The independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) was set up to advise the UK Government on the setting and meeting of UK carbon budgets as well as monitoring progress against them scope and level of UK carbon budgets.
The Climate Change Act was amended in 2019 to revise the greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2050 from 80% to 100%, i.e. net-zero.
Get data on Carbon Budgets (gov.uk website)
Countries that have signed and ratified the Paris Agreement are asked to declare a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), where countries set out what targets they intend to meet to contribute to mitigating climate change, and information on how the country plans to achieve those targets. The UK’s NDC commits the UK to reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
Get data on Paris emissions
Further information on the UK's action to tackle climate change can be found on the DESNZ website.