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Tue, 20th Apr 2021 16:01:00 |
Climate change: UK to speed up target to cut carbon emissions |
Radical new climate change commitments will set the UK on course to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035, the UK government has announced.
Hitting the targets would require more electric cars, low-carbon heating, renewable electricity and, for many, cutting down on meat and dairy.
For the first time, climate law will be extended to cover international aviation and shipping.
But Labour said the government had to match "rhetoric with reality".
It urged Boris Johnson to treat "the climate emergency as the emergency it is" and show "greater ambition".
The prime minister's commitments, which are to become law, bring forward the current target for reducing carbon emissions by 15 years. This would be a world-leading position.
Homes will need to be much better insulated, and people will be encouraged to drive less and walk and cycle more. Aviation is likely to become more expensive for frequent fliers.
The government has accepted the advice of its independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) to adopt the emissions cut, which is based on 1990 levels.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted a major surge in CO2 emissions from energy this year, as the world rebounds from the pandemic.
The UK's new commitments come as US President Joe Biden prepares to stage a climate summit from Washington DC.
Environmentalists welcomed the government's move, but warned that ministers had consistently failed to achieve previous CCC-set targets.
And they insisted that Chancellor Rishi Sunak must show clearly how the transition is to be funded.
Tom Burke, who chairs the environmental think tank E3G, explained what policy changes were needed to achieve the goal: "The most important thing, I think, is for [the prime minister] to focus his policy around energy efficiency, around wind and solar, and around storage of electricity and the management of the grid," he said.
However, he told the BBC's Today programme: "At the moment, it's... a bit of a Boris blunderbuss and is a huge range of marginal things instead of a concentration of effort on those things that will deliver the most emissions reductions in the fastest time."
Leo Murray of the climate charity Possible called the announcement "fantastic", but added: "We're not on track to meet previous climate commitments and in many ways the government is still failing."
Mr Murray said ministers were "facing both directions at the same time", as they had scrapped the Green Homes Grant for insulating homes, had not stopped airport expansion and were "still pushing a £27bn roads budget".
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