Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 9
8th Report - The Seventh Carbon Budget
Published 4 Mar 2026
Environmental Audit Committee The Seventh Carbon Budget All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Public perceptions are shaped not by ministerial statements alone, but by the cumulative impact of decisions taken across Government. Where policy choices in areas such as transport, buildings and infrastructure cut across climate objectives and are not aligned, they signal that net zero is a conditional ambition rather than a binding national obligation. This inconsistency has practical consequences and would slow the uptake of low-carbon technologies and deter long-term private investment, undermining confidence in the delivery of net zero and the Seventh Carbon Budget. The erosion of cross-party consensus on net zero further compounds this uncertainty at precisely the point when clarity, stability and sustained political commitment are most needed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 56)
From: Environmental Audit Committee, 8th Report - The Seventh Carbon Budget (HC 1327), 4 March 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 11 June 2026 (deadline 4 May 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government will propose that the seventh carbon budget is set at the Climate Change Committee's recommended 535 MtCO₂e, accepts two parliamentary debate recommendations, and otherwise says it will consider the Committee's delivery recommendations when it prepares the delivery plan.
- On parliamentary scrutiny, the government "accepts" that the draft Order should be debated on the Floor of the House rather than in a Delegated Legislation Committee, and accepts a debate of not less than half a day, working with Business Managers.
- It will publish a CB7 delivery plan "as soon as reasonably practicable" after Parliament decides the budget level, rather than alongside the draft Order, and will "consider" Parliament's views when preparing it.
- On an annual oral ministerial statement on delivery progress, the government says it "will consider whether seeking an oral statement would also be beneficial".
- On international aviation emissions, the government states that on 14 April 2026 it laid a statutory instrument to include the UK's share of international aviation and shipping emissions in Carbon Budget 6, later budgets and the net zero target.