This article provides an overview of progress in implementing the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, summarising the statutory targets, governance structures, and planning requirements set out in the legislation, and examining how far each has been delivered to date. It also outlines comparable developments in other UK jurisdictions and the Republic of Ireland to help contextualise Northern Ireland’s progress.
Rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have been widely reported. This has prompted organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Climate Change Committee (CCC), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to highlight the need for significant emission reductions to limit global temperature increases.
The IPCC’s 2014 assessment report concluded that limiting warming to below 2°C would require ‘near‑zero emissions of CO₂ and other long‑lived greenhouse gases by the end of the century’, helping to bring the concept of ‘net zero’ into mainstream policy discussions. Net zero refers to a balance between the greenhouse gases emitted and those removed from the atmosphere.
In 2019, the United Kingdom Government became the first national government to legislate for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through amendments to the Climate Change Act 2008. Other jurisdictions soon followed, including the Scottish Government, which legislated for a 2045 net zero target in 2019, and the Republic of Ireland, which adopted a net zero commitment in 2021.
In Northern Ireland, two climate change bills were introduced in 2021: an Executive Bill proposing an 82% emissions reduction by 2050, consistent with CCC advice, and a more ambitious Private Member’s Bill proposing a 2045 net zero target. Following amendments during scrutiny, including a statutory target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and inclusion of other aspects of the Member’s Bill, the Executive Bill ultimately passed and received Royal Assent on 6 June 2022.
The final Act set a series of targets; these are outlined in the table below along with what progress has been made, with the relevant clause of the climate act highlighted.
| Type | Commitment | Progress as of February 2026 |
| Outcome | Net emissions reduced by 100% compared to baseline by 2050 (Methane may only be reduced by 46%) (1). | Net Emissions in 2023 were reduced by 31.5%. Achieving the 2030 target requires a decrease of 2.8% per year, well above the average 1.2% per year over the last decade. |
| Outcome | Net emissions reduced by 48% by 2030 (4). | – |
| Outcome | 80% of electricity generation to be from renewable sources by 2030 (15). | 44.2% of electricity was produced by renewable sources in the year before September 2025, this is down from the peak of 51.6% reached in 2022. |
| Outcome | 70% of waste recycled by 2030 (18). | 50.5% of waste was recycled in 2024. |
| Outcome | 10% of infrastructure transport budget spent on active travel (22). | £52 Million of the infrastructure transport budget was spent on active travel, 6.3% of the overall budget. |
| Planning | Net emissions targets to be set for 2040 (2). These must be set by 2024. | The net emissions target for 2040 was set at 77% in 2024. |
| Planning | Carbon budgets set every five years (starting 2023 to 27), with each budget accompanied by a climate action plan with targets for soil quality, biodiversity and carbon emissions (23). The first three budgets must be set by 2023 and all remaining budgets 12 years before the start of the respective budget. | Carbon Budgets for the next three terms were all set in 2024, with consulting occurring on the fourth budget currently. A Draft Climate Action Plan for the first carbon budget has been published and was open to consultation between 19 June and 8 October 2025. |
| Planning | Sectoral plans published for energy, industrial processes, infrastructure, transport, waste management, fisheries, and agriculture. These should outline how that sector will contribute to the emissions targets, plans for agriculture must contain proposals for carrying out fully funded carbon audits (13). | Sectoral Plans have yet to be produced. |
| Oversight | Establish a Just Transition Commission to advise departments on how to ensure that proposals, policies, strategies and plans comply with the just transition principle (37). | Just Transition Commission draft regulations forthcoming to the AERA Committee and Assembly for scrutiny and debate before establishing the commission. |
| Governance | Establish a Just Transition Fund for Agriculture, to provide advice and financial assistance to the agriculture sector (31). | The Just Transition Fund for agriculture has not yet been established. |
| Reporting | To Impose climate reporting regulations on specified public bodies (42). | Climate change regulations have been imposed on 40 public bodies. |
| Oversight | Establish an independent Northern Ireland Climate Change Commissioner to oversee and report on the operations of the act (50). | Climate Change Commissioner regulations were passed in April 2025 but appointment has yet to be made. |
In brief, despite the 24-month hiatus since the 2022 Act, all budgets and targets required by the Act have now been set. However, some details and planning on how to achieve these remain outstanding alongside some of the governance structure to oversee the Act and the transition to net zero.
Other nations’ climate goals and progress
Other nations have also made substantial legislative progress toward net zero. A brief outline of the climate policy successes and struggles of each nation (Scotland, Wales, England, and the Republic of Ireland) are outlined before comparisons and relevance to Northern Ireland is given.
Scotland
In 2009 Scotland pledged 80% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, accompanied by annual emissions targets and a 42% reduction by 2020. This 2020 target was achieved six years early, leading to a new target in 2019 to reach net zero by 2045, alongside introduction of a Just Transition Commission. However, since then nine of the thirteen annual emissions targets were missed, resulting in the CCC suggesting the 2030 target of 75% was ‘no longer credible’ in 2024.
In response the 2030 and 2040 targets were dropped and the 2009 act amended to move to five-year carbon budgets and a new target of a 57% reduction by 2030. This led to delays in the publishing of the climate action plan and sectoral plans with the draft climate action plan published in 2025 and currently finishing consultation. Despite this the plan has been criticized for limited detail. Most recent emissions for 2023 were down 51.3% but it remains to be seen if the new plans will have sufficiently influenced the pace of change to meet future targets.
England
England’s climate change legislation is under UK legislation first introduced by the Climate Change Act 2008, establishing an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. To accomplish this, it established the Committee on Climate Change as an advisory body and established five-year carbon budgets. The first three carbon budgets over delivered by 15% and the UK was the first major economy to halve its emissions.
Multiple strategies followed and in 2019 the act was amended to net zero by 2050, soon accompanied by a Net Zero Strategy. However this, along with its successor, were ruled unlawful due to a lack of detailed policies to deliver commitments. In 2025 a new plan was published and welcomed by the CCC and its Provisional UK emissions for 2024 were 54% lower than baseline. The CCC’s most recent progress report stated that while the 2030 target remains ‘within reach’, there are significant risks in 39% of the required reductions.
Wales
The core of Wales’ climate legislation (in addition to UK legislation) was the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, establishing a framework for greenhouse gas emissions. The Act committed Wales to 80% emissions reduction by 2050, alongside five-year carbon budgets and interim targets. The act was amended in 2021 to require net zero by 2050, alongside carbon budgets and accompanying plans. aligning with the UK target. Other legislation has also aimed to embed sustainable development such as the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013.
The first carbon budget was achieved; however, the CCC reported Wales is not on track to meet future targets, with particular work needed across transport and heat. This, alongside calls for stronger governance after Brexit, resulted in the 2025 proposal for a new Office for Environmental Governance. This is designed to strengthen oversight and compliance of environmental regulations, and it is currently working through the legislature.
Republic of Ireland
While the Republic of Ireland established a carbon tax in 2010 it first introduced full climate legislation in 2015 with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. This established five-year plans for greenhouse gas reduction, the Climate Change Advisory Council (fulfilling a similar role to the CCC), and both national and sectoral plans, but without any binding targets. However, emissions continued to rise, and Ireland exceeded its 2020 EU emissions allocations.
Following this, in 2019 a new more detailed Climate Action Plan was published and a Just Transition Commissioner and fund created in 2019. Furthermore, in 2021 the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act was amended to commit to net zero by 2050. This also mandated a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030 (relative to 2018), five-year carbon budgets, sectoral emissions ceilings and climate action plans embedding just transition principles, and required local authorities to have five-year climate action plans.
More recently Sectoral Adaptation Plans have been released and emissions have begun to fall. Despite this, Ireland ‘remains substantially off track’ compared with its EU and national targets with Ireland emitting 54.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent, 98.5% of its 1990 level, in 2023. It remains to be seen how recent plans and legislation influences emissions.
Takeaways for Northern Ireland
As the most recent nation to introduce legislation Northern Ireland is currently implementing and creating the required governance. This later start allowed the Act to contain aspects deemed effective from legislation in other jurisdictions, such as a Just Transition Fund, and five-year carbon budgets. Additionally, while Northern Ireland may be behind other jurisdictions in terms of progress and implementation, this potentially gives us opportunity to learn from the progress to date elsewhere.
Ambitious statutory targets have proved vulnerable in other jurisdictions, as seen in both the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, particularly when not accompanied by detailed delivery plans – a criticism also levelled at England. The upcoming Climate Action and sectoral plans could seek to provide sufficient detail to avoid this critique in Northern Ireland.
Five-year carbon budgets appear to be an effective mechanism that other jurisdictions have moved towards. This is something Northern Ireland has already implemented. Another recurring theme is that early emissions reductions and targets are easier to achieve, often driven by decarbonising electricity generation but later reductions in other sectors are slower. This is something that may also occur in Northern Ireland.
Delays in publishing detailed policy and sectoral plans have been a weakness in several jurisdictions. Scotland’s plans were repeatedly postponed and then criticised for a lack of specific detail while England’s plans were judged insufficiently detailed. The upcoming Climate Action Plan and sectoral plans could seek to avoid this critique. Finally, there appears to be a trend of target revision as seen in Scotland’s recent downgrading of its 2030 and 2040 targets and emerging concerns in both Wales and the Republic of Ireland about feasibility. Whether Northern Ireland takes a similar approach remains to be seen. And this will likely depend on effective implementation of the Act.
Overall, the experience of other jurisdictions suggests that Northern Ireland’s success will depend less on the statutory targets themselves and more on the timely publication of detailed delivery plans and the establishment of governance structures to oversee implementation.