How will Brexit affect climate change policy?

It is probable that the UK will not, once it has left the European Union, formally participate in the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the bloc. The UK is already an individual signatory to the Paris Agreement (PDF), and contributed to the preparation of the European Union’s collective ‘intended nationally determined contribution’ (INDC) (PDF) ahead of the 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UNFCCC, including a joint target for the 28 Member States to reduce their total annual emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030 to 40 per cent lower than they were in 1990. Outside the European Union, the UK will be expected to submit its own ‘nationally determined contribution’, including its own target for emissions in 2030.