The Climate Change Act 2008 set legally binding emission reduction targets for 2020 (reduction of 34 percent in greenhouse gas emissions) and for 2050 (reduction of at least 80 percent in greenhouse gas emissions), and introduced five-yearly carbon budgets to help ensure those targets are met.
DECC, working with other Departments, is helping the UK to make the transition to a low carbon economy, while ensuring that the UK benefits from the business and employment opportunities this brings.
The UK is well placed to embrace these opportunities. In 2008/09, the UK had the sixth largest Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sector in the world, worth £112 billion per year – an annual increase of 4.3% on figures for 2007/08. UK employment in the LCEGS sector is approximately 910,000 people – projected to increase to over a million by the middle of the decade.
DECC is encouraging organisations to reduce their emissions and embrace these opportunities through setting regulations, establishing market-based mechanisms, providing incentives and ensuring the provision of information, advice and support. This helps to stimulate the development of low carbon goods and services and promote their uptake throughout the UK.
DECC’s work is underpinned by the following strategies published in 2009. These are all available from the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan page:
- The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan
- The UK Renewable Energy Strategy
- The UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy
- Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future
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