The Climate Change Act 2008 (Credit Limit) Order 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

The UK’s progress against its emission reduction targets is assessed by reference to the ‘net UK carbon account’. Under section 27 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (c. 27) (“ the Act ”) the net UK carbon account is reduced when carbon units are credited to it. ‘Carbon unit’ means a unit of a kind defined in regulations made under section 26(1) of the Act.

This Order sets a limit on the net amount of carbon units that may be credited to the net UK carbon account for the 2028-2032 budgetary period of 0 carbon units. Article 2(2) sets out certain carbon units which are excluded from the level of the limit. Those are carbon units that may be credited to and debited from the net UK carbon account in connection with the operation of the EU Emissions Trading System during the 2028-2032 budgetary period. In the event these units are used, they would be credited or debited in accordance with regulations made under section 27(3) of the Act.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.