VoteClimate: Labour's climate pledges: How has Labour performed in its first year in office?

Labour's climate pledges: How has Labour performed in its first year in office?

28 Jul 25

In this post, we review progress made on the climate policies outlined in Labourquo;s 2024 election manifesto over their first year in office.

In the table below, we list each of the Emissions-related pledges made in Labour’s manifesto, review the progress made and assign a ‘policy status’ for quick reference.

We counted 25 climate policies in the manifesto. Labour has taken steps on 15 of these, plus one that wasn’t in the manifesto! The government has already met two of them and exceeded its pledge in two cases. However, six of them have yet to be implemented, while there has been a partial rollback on four.

This is pretty good progress against Labour’s campaign pledges. But Labour’s manifesto commitments are nowhere near enough to meet the UK’s own legally binding 2050 Net Zero commitment – let alone do Britain’s bit to avert catastrophic climate breakdown. Scroll down, underneath the table, to read a more detailed evaluation of Labour’s progress.

In the policy status column, you’ll find six categories:

Exceeded pledge – Labour has gone over and above its manifesto pledge, for example by committing more money than they said they would.
Met – they have achieved the pledge, for example, by committing the promised funding.
In progress – the policy is being delivered but has not yet been fully met, for instance, if a piece of legislation is passing through Parliament but has not yet been enacted in law.
Strategy published – the government has said what it plans to do over time, but we couldn’t find evidence that it had started taking concrete action on this strategy.
Partial rollback – Labour has gone back on part of a pledge, for example by watering it down or replacing rather than supplementing a related good policy from the previous government.
Not yet implemented – no action has been taken as far as we could tell. This is not necessarily a bad sign – the policy may be implemented in part or in full before the end of the Parliament. So in some cases, ‘not yet implemented’ may be better than a partial rollback.

Scroll down for further analysis underneath the table – including a brief look at policies which are likely to increase emissions, cancelling out some of the reductions made by the government’s climate policies.

Spotted a policy announcement or update we’ve missed? Let us know by emailing .

Manifesto commitment		Policy status
EV charge points	Pledge: Support the transition to electric vehicles by accelerating the rollout of charge points. Progress made: £400m allocated for on-street charging while scrapping the Tories’ £950 million rapid charging fund. Analysis: While more on-street charging is needed, this is a reduction in funding rather than new investment.	Partial rollback
Petrol/diesel car phase-out	Pledge: Restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines. Progress made: All cars must be zero emissions or hybrid from 2030, all cars must be zero emissions by 2035. Analysis: Hybrid vehicles, which have an internal combustion engine, will continue to be sold until 2035.	Partial rollback
Petrol/diesel car phase-out	Pledge: New non-manifesto policy Progress made: A government-subsidised discount of £3,750 is now available on all new EVs priced at or under £37,000. Analysis: This is a new policy not included in the manifesto.	Exceeded pledge
EV battery information	Pledge: Support buyers of second-hand electric cars by standardising the information supplied on the condition of batteries. Progress made: We could not find any evidence that this scheme has been launched. Analysis: N/A	Not yet implemented
Rail freight	Pledge: A duty to promote and grow the use of rail freight. Progress made: We could not find any evidence that Labour has developed the previous government’s rail freight strategy. Analysis: N/A	Not yet implemented
Bus service franchising	Pledge: New powers for local leaders to franchise local bus services. Progress made: Bus Services (No 2) Bill at report stage. Analysis: When passed, the Act will remove the ban on council-owned bus companies and expand local authority powers to franchise local bus services.	In progress
Green hydrogen	Pledge: £500 million to support the manufacturing of green hydrogen. Progress made: £500 million funding for hydrogen infrastructure, including low carbon production, announced in June 2025. Analysis: The funding is for all forms of hydrogen production, including but not limited to green hydrogen.	Partial rollback
Onshore wind	Pledge: Double onshore wind by 2030. Progress made: Labour dropped the Tories’ de facto ban on onshore wind days after entering office. The Clean Power 2030 strategy, published in July 2025, sets out the government’s aim to increase capacity from 14.8GW to 27-29 GW by 2030, while the recently published onshore wind strategy says reforms could unlock £70 billion of extra private-sector funding for the sector. Analysis: It appears that the government intends to deliver this policy through private-sector funding, with the onshore wind strategy outlining steps it will take to encourage investors to provide finance. It remains to be seen whether these measures will be sufficient.	In progress
Offshore wind	Pledge: Quadruple offshore wind by 2030. Progress made: Clean Power 2030 outlines the government’s aim to generate 43-50 GW of capacity from offshore wind by 2030. £300 million was allocated for offshore wind supply chains in the Spending Review. Analysis: The pledge in the energy strategy is backed up by investment in the Spending Review, although it is unclear whether £300 million is enough money to meet the aim.	Strategy published
Solar power	Pledge: Triple solar power by 2030. Progress made: The Clean Power 2030 energy strategy proposes to increase capacity to 45-47GW by 2030. Analysis: Again, we couldn’t find evidence of additional funding to meet this aim.	Strategy published
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)	Pledge: £1 billion to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture. Progress made: In October 2024, Labour pledged £21.7 billion to CCS projects over the next 25 years, and the Spending Review committed an extra £9.4 billion for this Parliament. Analysis: The jury is out on the extent to which CCS will reduce emissions, and some argue the technology may be used by the oil and gas industry to delay the transition away from fossil fuels.	Exceeded pledge
Tidal power	Pledge: Invest in tidal power. Progress made: The GB Energy Act commits the government to co-investment with the private sector in tidal power. Analysis: Tidal power is not mentioned explicitly in the wording of the act, and there is very little detail about what this would entail.	In progress
Energy storage	Pledge: Ensure the UK has long-term energy storage. Progress made: The GB Energy Act commits GB Energy to the storage of supply, and different scenarios are described in Clean Power 2030. Analysis: Again, there is scant detail on what will happen in practice.	In progress
Nuclear power capacity	Pledge: Ensure the long-term security of the nuclear power sector, extending the lifetime of existing plants, by building Sizewell C and small modular reactors. Progress made: The Spending Review commits the government to £14.2bn direct state investment in Sizewell C. £2.5 billion of the £8.3 billion allocated to GB Energy in the Spending Review is earmarked for GB Energy Nuclear. Analysis: The current government seems firmly committed to Sizewell C, although with project costs rising, it is unclear how a future government might approach this project.	In progress
New oil and gas	Pledge: Not issue new licences to explore new oil and gas fields. Progress made: The government has confirmed the ban will be implemented but it is not yet in place, despite reporting in July 2024. Analysis: The government is dragging its heels on implementing this symbolic flagship policy, which has become a flashpoint despite its limited potential to reduce emissions.	Not yet implemented
New coal	Pledge: Not grant new coal licences. Progress made: The government has announced that it will ban new coal mining, although the legislation has not yet been passed. Analysis: We expect this to be implemented, although the legislation has not yet been brought before Parliament.	Not yet implemented
Fracking	Pledge: Ban fracking for good. Progress made: We could not find evidence that fracking has been permanently banned. In fact, there are recent petitions calling on the government to introduce a fracking ban. Analysis: This policy has not yet been passed into legislation.	Not yet implemented
Local power generation	Pledge: Deploy more distributed production capacity through a Local Power Plan. GB Energy will partner with energy companies, local authorities, and co-operatives to install thousands of clean power projects, through a combination of onshore wind, solar and hydropower projects. Progress made: The Local Power Plan is mentioned briefly in the GB Energy Act explanatory notes, saying that the policy intent of the Act includes the establishment of a ‘Local Power Plan’. The Act itself mentions ‘projects involving or benefiting local communities’ but does not specifically reference the Local Power Plan. Analysis: There are signs that this policy is in development.	In progress
Electricity transmission infrastructure	Pledge: Work with industry to upgrade our national transmission infrastructure. Progress made: Ofgem announced £24.2 billion of investment in upgrades to transmission between 2026/7 and 2030/31. Analysis: Money has been allocated to this policy – but we aren’t able to confirm whether it is enough to meet demand.	In progress
Home insulation and retrofitting	Pledge: Invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the existing planned government investment, to upgrade five million homes. Progress made: In the Spending Review, the government increased the Warm Homes Plan to £13.2 billion between 2025-26 and 2029-30. This covers heat pumps, solar panels and batteries for one fifth of the UK housing stock. Analysis: The £13.2 billion investment is an increase of £6.6 billion on the previous government’s commitment, meeting Labour’s manifesto pledge.	Met
Private-rented energy efficiency standards	Pledge: Ensure homes in the private-rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030. Progress made: The government has proposed that from 2030, private landlords in England and Wales must ensure their properties have an EPC rating of C or above. Analysis: This is currently a proposal only and has yet to be enacted in law.	Not yet implemented
Carbon border adjustment mechanism	Pledge: Support the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism. Progress made: A consultation was announced by Tories. Labour supports the policy and will implement the mechanism from January 2027. Analysis: This is simply a continuation of the previous Tory government’s position. The emissions reductions will depend on the carbon price set, which is yet to be determined.	Met
Bank of England’s requirement to consider climate change	Pledge: Reverse the Conservatives’ decision to prevent the Bank of England giving due consideration to climate change in its mandates. Progress made: Reeves urged the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey to reinstate climate change as one of the bank's key considerations. It is unclear whether the Bank has acted on this. Analysis: Given the independence of the Bank of England, this seems to be the extent of the Chancellor’s power.	In progress
Tree-planting	Pledge: Plant millions of trees and create new woodlands. Progress made: Tree Planting Taskforce launched. Analysis: It is unclear how many trees will be planted or whether this is meaningful in the context of the UK’s carbon emissions.	In progress
Biodiversity	Pledge: Expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests. Progress made: We could not find any information about the implementation of this policy. Analysis: Environmental organisations, including the Office for Environment Protection, have expressed concern about the impact of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. On balance, the government’s actions may hamper efforts to restore habitat and biodiversity overall.	Partial rollback
Circular economy	Pledge: Reduce waste by moving to a circular economy. Progress made: A Circular Economy Taskforce has been launched to look into the transition from a linear to a circular economy. Analysis: While it is positive that the government is scoping out the creation of a circular economy, implementation is a long way off and the policy may be kicked into the long grass.	In progress

Is Labour making good progress?

That depends on how you look at it!

The Labour government seems to be making reasonable progress towards its manifesto pledges. In its first year in office, it has taken steps towards just under half of its ‘climate policies’ (policies which are designed to reduce emissions).

However, you may be wondering if Labour’s manifesto pledges are enough to meet the UK’s climate commitments.

Are Labour’s manifesto pledges enough?

No.

There are several parts to this question. First, there is the UK’s legal requirement to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050, passed into law in 2019. The UK has a ‘carbon budget’ which we need to keep within in order to achieve this target – our share of the global carbon budget calculated by the IPCC, a generous calculation, in the view of many developing nations. Labour’s manifesto takes us beyond this carbon budget around 2033, according to our analysis Party Manifestos vs Net Zero before the general election last year. So even if Labour delivered all its climate commitments as quickly as possible, these policies would fail to deliver the government’s legally binding Net Zero target within the UK’s carbon budget.

However, Net Zero would not necessarily limit temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In fact, it gives us a 50% chance of planetary warming not exceeding 1.5°C in the long run. We could keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C, or we could go above this threshold temporarily before bringing global average temperatures down again later in the century. Even if we meet this target, there is a 50% chance we could exceed 1.5°C and never bring temperatures back down.

In other words, Labour needs to go much further than its manifesto pledges if the UK is to do its part in ensuring a safe climate. In 2021, Labour announced £28 billion per year in green investment over five years. That would likely have brought the government closer to achieving its Net Zero target than Labour’s current commitments, but the policy was gradually watered down and then all-but abandoned in 2024, with Starmer suggesting it would not be compatible with the party’s fiscal rules.

What about policies which increase emissions?

Labour’s ‘climate policies’ aren’t the full picture. Labour has also announced policies which will increase emissions – in its manifesto and since entering office. Obviously, these will cancel out some of the emissions reductions achieved by the climate policies.

We haven’t reviewed every policy announcement, but Labour has committed to policies which are likely to increase emissions, for example, by earmarking funding for road improvements and signalling support for airport expansion. You may well think there are good reasons to enact some of these policies – but from a climate perspective, they are likely to raise emissions.

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