Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee

8th Report - The Seventh Carbon Budget

Environmental Audit Committee HC 1327 Published 4 March 2026

Report Status

Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations

40 items (27 recs)

Source

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Government Response

AI assessment · 40 of 40 classified

Accepted 20

Accepted in Part 6

Acknowledged 12

Deferred 2

Government response

1st Special Report - The Seventh Carbon Budget: Government Response · published 11 Jun 2026

Read the government response ↗ Response on the Index

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items

8 Recommendation Deferred

Alongside the draft Carbon Budget Order for the Seventh Carbon Budget, the Government should publish...

Recommendation

Alongside the draft Carbon Budget Order for the Seventh Carbon Budget, the Government should publish a clear, indicative, cross-governmental delivery framework. The framework should demonstrate how departmental policies will be aligned, mutually reinforcing and consistent with the emissions limits set … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the importance of coordination and states it will publish a statutory delivery plan for the Seventh Carbon Budget after Parliament decides the budget level. It will carefully consider the Committee’s specific recommendations for strengthening cross-government delivery when developing this plan, rather than committing to publish an indicative framework alongside the draft Carbon Budget Order.

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15 Recommendation Deferred

Alongside the draft Seventh Carbon Budget Order, the Government should publish draft sector delivery plans...

Recommendation

Alongside the draft Seventh Carbon Budget Order, the Government should publish draft sector delivery plans setting out how each sector is expected to contribute to delivery of the budget. These plans should: • Set out the policy instruments that will … Read more Alongside the draft Seventh Carbon Budget Order, the Government should publish draft sector delivery plans setting out how each sector is expected to contribute to delivery of the budget. These plans should: • Set out the policy instruments that will be used and when they will take effect; • Identify the funding routes, including the balance between public support and private investment; • Specify the infrastructure required, with indicative sequencing and delivery milestones to ensure that grid expansion, planning reform and infrastructure readiness precede electrification and deployment surges; • Set out the behavioural, skills and capacity assumptions underpinning delivery; • Demonstrate how the sectoral plans align with each other and with wider Government strategies and policy frameworks, such as those affecting land use, infrastructure, industrial strategy and skills; • Explain how competing demands across sectors for constrained resources, including clean power, grid capacity, skilled workers, land and sustainable feedstocks, will be prioritised and managed, and how trade-offs between departmental objectives will be resolved to support delivery of the carbon budget as a whole. 60 • Set out how projected growth in electricity demand from data centres and other emerging energy-intensive sectors is factored into system planning and infrastructure delivery, including the implications for low-carbon generation, network capacity, and competing demands across the economy; • and, for sectors reliant on emerging or nascent technologies it should include pre-agreed contingency options and clearly defined and actively monitored trigger points to be activated if technologies are not delivered at the expected pace or scale. This should include explicit consideration of delivery capacity and skills constraints, to avoid poor implementation that could undermine public confidence. Together, these plans would strengthen Parliamentary scrutiny, provide greater transparency on Show less

Government Response Summary

The government states it will align with statutory duties to lay a delivery plan for the Seventh Carbon Budget after the budget level has been set. It welcomes the Committee's suggestions for sector delivery plans and will carefully consider these elements, including policy instruments, funding, infrastructure, and contingency planning, when developing the statutory delivery plan.

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