Energy

Britain Says It Will Cut Emissions 68% By 2030, But Experts Ask How


U.K. leader Boris Johnson yesterday announced a new climate commitment for the country, saying Britain will slash its carbon emissions 68% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, up from a previous ambition of 57%. The new commitment, Johnson said, meant the country would be cutting its emissions “faster than any major economy.”

The new target was set just hours after the government received a letter from the country’s top climate advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, urging it to commit to the 68% cut. The announcement comes hot on the heels of Johnson’s ten-point plan of green measures pushed out last month, in which the prime minister declared that a ban on internal combustion engine cars would come into force in 2030.

It also comes just over a week before the U.K. is due to submit its updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Climate Ambition Summit on December 12. NDCs represent each country’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, and are a foundational component of the COP26 climate talks, to be hosted by the U.K. next November.

The pledge was met with a combination of welcome and caution from climate scientists and researchers, with a common theme being a call for more detail on just how such a reduction will be achieved.

Mark Maslin, professor of climatology at University College London, confirmed the new plan would indeed make U.K. emissions reductions the fastest among major economies. “But,” he said, “what we must all do is hold our government to their rhetoric—because their pledges are ambitious and world-leading but they must now deliver the policies and the incentives to ensure that these significant greenhouse gas cuts are made.”

Maslin said that in order to achieve the target, a major push towards electrification of the economy would be needed, along with major changes to agricultural and environmental practices.

“We need 100% renewable electricity, we need all vehicles to be electric, we need to switch away from gas central heating, we need sustainable agriculture, we need to reforest and rewild the U.K. and we need a global transparent system of carbon offsets to help companies get to net zero as soon as possible,” he said.

MORE FROM FORBESShell Oil Accused Of ‘Climate Wrecking’ In Historic Lawsuit

For Mirabelle Muûls, assistant professor in economics at Grantham Institute, Climate Change and the Environment, the key to achieving the new target would be carbon pricing—costs applied to carbon pollution which force polluters to reduce emissions.

“Strong policies, and in particular a price on carbon, are needed to incentivise businesses and people to change, for the transition to be just and for private investment to follow,” Muûls said.

Noting that the government had pledged not to achieve its target through tradeable carbon credits, but rather by direct carbon-cutting action, she added: “It [the U.K.] will have to deliver through domestic action on its promises. While this is positive, the U.K. crucially needs to ensure that other countries take the same path through collaboration. This can be done by expanding climate finance, working towards an international carbon market and supporting developing countries in their transition.”

Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science at the University of Oxford and director of Oxford Net Zero, had questions about how the transition would be funded.

“It’s great to lead on the headline numbers, but let’s also lead on the policies to achieve them,” Allen said. “This cannot, and should not, be done with an unholy combination of taxpayers’ money and labyrinthine regulation. We need simple policies to ensure the private sector plays its part in delivering net zero.”

Allen called on the government to encourage firms to sign up to schemes like Carbon Takeback, which requires fossil fuel importers to account for and dispose of the greenhouse gases produced by the fuels they sell.

Meanwhile Luke Murphy, head of the Institute for Public Policy Research’s cross-party Environmental Justice Commission, said the new target “sends an important signal to other countries around the world that are currently considering their own commitments.” However, he noted, the target excludes international aviation and shipping—two huge, and hugely polluting, sectors.

“What is more,” Murphy added, “ambitions are nothing without the actions needed to realise them. While the prime minister’s recent ten-point plan marked welcome progress, the commitments it contained weren’t even enough to meet our existing legally binding targets, let alone get us on track to meet net zero.”

He said that in order to do that, the government would need to massively boost investment and emissions regulations domestically, while “reducing the production, consumption and export of oil and gas, in line with the U.K.’s international commitments under the Paris Agreement.”

This latter point is a key concern among researchers, who note that the U.K. intends to spend 32 times more stimulus cash on its fossil fuel infrastructure than on renewables—a funding reality that could undermine the government’s purported green agenda.

As observed by Forbes.com, Boris Johnson is a relatively recent convert to climate evangelism. As a member of parliament he has a record of voting against proposals for action on climate change, and as a journalist he has written articles that align with climate skeptics. Johnson’s recent actions, too, have exasperated climate watchers, such as his appointment of MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who also has a record of voting against climate initiatives, to the role of International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience.



READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.