Coutinho refuses to update carbon budget plan as Energy Act is passed

Energy secretary Clare Coutinho has refused to update the government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan to reflect prime minister Rishi Sunak’s backtrack on a swathe of net zero polices, as the long awaited Energy Act has been passed into law. In a letter published today (Thursday 26 October) to Philip Dunne MP, chair of the House of Commons environmental audit committee, Coutinho insists that the government remains committed to existing targets designed to keep the UK on track for meeting net zero emissions by 2050.