{"id":17608,"date":"2021-11-24T16:05:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T16:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=17608"},"modified":"2022-03-02T12:01:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:01:02","slug":"is-northern-ireland-the-only-part-of-europe-without-climate-change-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/law\/is-northern-ireland-the-only-part-of-europe-without-climate-change-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Northern Ireland the only part of Europe without climate change legislation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Northern Ireland Assembly has not yet passed its own legislation, unlike the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. However, there is UK climate-related legislation that extends to Northern Ireland. Elsewhere in Europe, Azerbaijan has no national climate legislation.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Speaking as part of a panel discussion about COP26 on BBC Radio Ulster\u2019s Sunday Sequence programme on 31 October 2021, John Barry claimed (at 47:48<\/a>): \u201cWe [Northern Ireland] are the only part of Europe at this stage without climate change legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this fact check, we considered legislation applicable to Eastern and Western Europe, using lists of countries by regional groupings<\/a> at the United Nations (excluding Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Turkey, and the USA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is 46 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK legislation addressing climate change<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Archives publishes a public database<\/a> of all UK legislation, since 1297, and includes legislation passed in the assemblies of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A search for climate-related legislation reveals the UK Parliament\u2019s Climate Change Act (2008)<\/a>, which applies right across the United Kingdom. Devolved administrations (like the Northern Ireland Assembly) are responsible for implementing relevant clauses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scottish Parliament passed the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019<\/a>, and the Welsh Assembly passed the Environment (Wales) Act 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northern Ireland Assembly has not made laws specific to climate change, beyond amending a couple of statue regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European legislation addressing climate change<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Change Laws of the World<\/a> is a public database of national-level climate change legislation and policies globally, collated by the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of writing, the database suggests that Azerbaijan<\/a> is the only country in Eastern or Western Europe without any climate-related national legislation in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the EU has 40<\/a> laws, and the UK has 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a global database that monitors climate change legislation, the UK has 18 climate-related laws in place; and some of these laws extend across the whole of the UK, including Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislatures in Scotland and Wales have passed their own climate-related laws, while the Northern Ireland Assembly has not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Azerbaijan belongs to the UN\u2019s grouping of Eastern European states, and has not passed any climate-related legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Ireland Assembly has not yet passed its own legislation, unlike the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. However, there is UK climate-related legislation that extends to Northern Ireland. Elsewhere in Europe, Azerbaijan has no national climate legislation. Speaking as part of a panel discussion about COP26 on BBC Radio Ulster\u2019s Sunday Sequence programme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,32],"tags":[257],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Northern Ireland the only part of Europe without climate change legislation? - FactCheckNI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/law\/is-northern-ireland-the-only-part-of-europe-without-climate-change-legislation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Northern Ireland the only part of Europe without climate change legislation? - FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Northern Ireland Assembly has not yet passed its own legislation, unlike the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. However, there is UK climate-related legislation that extends to Northern Ireland. Elsewhere in Europe, Azerbaijan has no national climate legislation. 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