“In essence, the Court of Appeal’s ruling is a conservative proposition: the government, in developing major infrastructure plans, should take into account its own policy commitment to the Paris Agreement temperature limit. It simply requires the government to be honest: is it serious about limiting warming to 1.5˚C or not? If not, it should let us all know.

That’s why the ruling sets such a powerful precedent, both in the UK and beyond. The message has gone out loud and clear that governments can no longer do what they’ve been doing for decades: claiming to be serious about tackling the climate crisis while marching us headlong towards disaster.”