Published by
Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement / United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Year
2017

Good Practice: UK carbon budgets MRV system

Introduced in the Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA 2008), carbon budgets set legally binding limits on the total GHG emissions allowed from the UK in five year periods. The carbon budgets set the trajectory to the UK’s long-term target of at least an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050 on 1990 levels. The first carbon budget started in 2008. The overall approach of the Measuring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system includes an annual evaluation of progress towards meeting the carbon budgets, carried out by an independent committee (Climate Change Committee, CCC), which provides a detailed report on progress, considering national and sectoral greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as implementation and consumption related indicators, including at the level of individual mitigation actions. The UK met the first carbon budget target for 2008-12 and is currently in the second budget for 2013-2017, which is projected to be met.