Great Britain wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 68 percent this decade compared to 1990 levels. By 2050, the country should even be completely CO2 neutral. The British government writes in a statement on Thursday that it is the fastest reduction of all major economies.
The country is preparing to co-host a virtual climate summit to be held on December 12. “Today, we are leading the way with an ambitious new target to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
Great Britain was the first G7 country (further comprising France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States) to set a zero emissions target for 2050 last year.
Johnson revealed his plans last month on how to get this done. He advocates “a green industrial revolution” that will create and support 250,000 jobs. The plan includes a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, a quadrupling of offshore wind energy and a scaling up of hydrogen production capacity.
According to the prime minister, the reduction of greenhouse gases affects all countries and will therefore urge other world leaders to draw up ambitious plans at the climate summit.
Paris Climate Agreement
The climate summit on December 12 will be held exactly five years after world leaders drafted the Paris climate agreement. In that agreement, almost all countries agreed, without concrete plans, to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. Countries can decide for themselves how they want to achieve that goal.
The European Union came up with the Green Deal, with the aim of being CO2 neutral by 2050. Currently negotiate the member states to tighten up the 2030 ambition and by then emit at least 55 percent less than in 1990. Resistance, however, comes mainly from Eastern European member states, which are still very dependent on coal.
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