Climate progress reports compared: UK, Canada, Ireland and the EU

United Kingdom

Section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008 puts a duty on the Secretary of State to make the net UK carbon account for 2050 at least 100% lower than the 1990 baseline ⁶. Section 36 makes the Committee lay a report before Parliament and each devolved legislature every year from 2009 ¹. The report gives its views on progress toward the carbon budgets and the 2050 target, on further progress needed and on whether they are likely to be met ¹.

The first report was due by 30 September 2009 ¹. Later reports are due by 30 June, except a report in the second year after a budget period ends, which is due by 15 July ¹. The Secretary of State may extend these periods by order ¹.

Section 37 says the Secretary of State must lay a response before Parliament to the points raised in each progress report ². The response must be laid by 15 October in the year the Committee reports, after consultation with the other national authorities ². The first response was due by 15 January 2010 ².

Canada

The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, assented to on 29 June 2021, sets net-zero emissions as the national target for 2050 ³. The Minister must set a target for each milestone year, 2030, 2035, 2040 and 2045 ³.

Section 14 requires at least one progress report for each milestone year and for 2050, no later than two years before that year begins ³. For the first milestone year, progress reports were due by the end of 2023, 2025 and 2027 ³. Any progress report on 2030 must cover the interim objective for 2026 ³. Section 15 requires an assessment report no later than 30 days after Canada submits its official greenhouse gas inventory for the milestone year ³.

Plans, progress reports and assessment reports must be tabled in each House on any of the first 15 sitting days after they are finalized ³. Section 24 requires the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to examine and report on the government's climate mitigation measures at least once every five years ³.

Ireland

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 sets a national climate objective of a climate neutral economy by no later than the end of 2050 ⁴. The first two carbon budgets must provide for 2030 emissions 51 per cent below those reported for 2018 ⁴. Carbon budgets run in five-year periods starting on 1 January 2021 ⁴.

The Act requires an annual review by 30 October each year of progress in the preceding year ⁴. The Minister submits a draft climate action plan to the Government every year from 2021 ⁴. Each minister must, on the written request of a joint committee of the Oireachtas, attend and give an account of progress in their sector ⁴.

European Union

Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 makes the Union's binding 2030 target a domestic cut in net greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55% compared with 1990 levels ⁵. It requires emissions and removals to be balanced within the Union by 2050 at the latest ⁵.

Article 6 requires the Commission to assess collective progress and the consistency of Union measures by 30 September 2023 and every five years after ⁵. A separate article sets the same timetable for the Commission's assessment of national measures ⁵. The recitals say the timing allows preparation for the global stocktake under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement ⁵.

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