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The UK will cut greenhouse gas emissions faster and faster than any other major economy in the next decade, under a new carbon target set by the prime minister.
There will be a 68% reduction in annual carbon emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, a significant increase from the current target of around 57% reductions. The increased ambition to address the climate crisis is intended to prompt other countries to follow suit, as Boris Johnson prepares to co-host a virtual summit of world leaders on climate next week.
The prime minister said on Thursday: “We have shown that we can reduce our emissions and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. We are taking the lead with an ambitious new goal of reducing our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy … The UK is urging world leaders to come up with their own ambitious plans to cut emissions and set a net zero . [carbon] objectives “.
The target, called the NDC, or Nationally Determined Contribution, will be presented to the UN as part of the UK’s commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The UK will host the COP26 climate talks of the UN, intended to give new impetus to the Paris agreement, in Glasgow in November 2021, for which the summit of world leaders next week is a stage.
The new target follows the advice of the government’s statutory advisers, the committee on climate change, which found that the costs of reducing emissions had fallen rapidly in recent years. The committee said the 2030 target would put the UK on the path to net zero emissions by 2050, the long-term goal enshrined in law under Theresa May.
But activists and climate experts said the government should have gone further to seize the opportunities offered in green jobs and low-carbon economic growth as the UK struggles to emerge from the coronavirus crisis.
Ed Matthew, COP26 co-chair for the Climate Coalition, which comprises 140 civil society groups with 22 million members, said: “This is important progress but not enough. A more ambitious cut is feasible and necessary to keep us safe and reflect our massive historical carbon emissions. We must also remember that the climate will not respond to targets, it will respond to carbon cuts. What counts is action. “
Environmental and poverty advocates wrote to Johnson last month asking for a 75% cut target, which they said were exaggerated but feasible. Research from WWF and Imperial College London suggested that a target of 72% would stimulate the UK’s green economy.
The Treasury is understood to have been concerned about the potential cost of emissions cuts falling on consumers.
Activists also warned that the government would need to produce a coherent plan to achieve the more rigid goal, as current policies were inadequate. John Sauven, Chief Executive Officer of Greenpeace UK, said: “The government must now step up the actions necessary to reduce emissions from our UK homes, roads, farms and energy sources. If we want the future to be as different as possible from the world devastated by the 2020 crisis, then addressing the climate emergency, restarting the economy and creating thousands of new green jobs is the only real option. “
Ed Miliband, the shadow business secretary, said that the current carbon budget set for 2023 would likely be overlooked, as the government for the past decade had not come up with policies to meet the targets. He said: “It is clear that there is now a huge gap between the aspirations of the government and its policies to fulfill them. The government did not have the policies to meet its previous objective, and the abyss will be even greater now ”.
Last month, Johnson laid out a 10-point plan that he said would start a green industrial revolution and included a commitment to phase out gasoline and diesel cars, build new offshore wind farms and invest in hydrogen fuel. However, critics said the plans were insufficient and inadequately funded, pointing to parallel plans that would likely increase emissions by building £ 27bn of new roads and hundreds of thousands of new homes that will not adhere to standards. net of zero carbon.
An analysis by The Guardian and Vivid Economics showed that the UK was still spending much of its Covid-19 rescue package on high-carbon activities, reducing the impact of the “green recovery” that Johnson had promised.
Ministers are understood to be preparing more policies to complement the 10-point plan and the NDC, including an energy white paper before the end of the year that will set out some new measures.
The companies also asked the government for more details. Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist for the employers’ organization of the Confederation of British Industry, said: [the 2030 target] It certainly represents a true stretch, there is no question that companies are up to the challenge as we rebuild better and more ecologically after the pandemic. Publishing the energy white paper as soon as possible and moving with speed, determination and greater ambition to implement the policies of the government’s 10-point plan is essential to our success. “
Other major world economies are also expected to introduce NDC, to join the dozens of smaller economies that have already done so. EU leaders will meet next week to decide on a possible 55% emissions cut by 2030, and US President-elect Joe Biden plans to rejoin the Paris agreement when he takes office. China has set a goal of reaching maximum emissions by 2030, but has not yet submitted a formal plan to the UN. Japan has submitted a plan, but is under pressure to review it.
