Climate experts welcome ‘net zero’ emission pledge as ‘crucial first step’ but warn it is not enough

Climate activists gather for an Extinction Rebellion protest. The group sain the new target was a 'death sentence'
REUTERS

Climate experts have welcomed the UK’s new target to cut emissions to “net zero” by 2050 as a “crucial first step” in combating global warming.

The new goal is one of the most ambitious set by a major polluting nation and Britain is the first major economy to make the pledge.

But while Tuesday’s announcement was described as a “big moment” for the climate, experts and activists warn that it still was not enough.

Greenpeace UK's chief scientist Doug Parr raised concerns that the plan allows carbon credits, meaning emissions will be offset elsewhere.

A new 'net zero' target to combat emissions has been unveiled by the UK government
Getty Images

And activist group Extinction Rebellion gave an even more damning verdict, branding the new goal post as a “death sentence”.

"People are already dying and this will only get worse with far off dates," the group said of the new middle-of-the-century target.

Hitting “net zero” – a 100 per cent cut in emissions – will mean a major shift away from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles, walking and cycling.

The move will also mean an end to the heating of homes with traditional gas boilers and a drive towards greener energy.

The new target - which will be legally binding - means the UK must cut emissions to as close to zero as possible by 2050 and use methods to take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere to "offset" the remaining pollution such as planting trees which absorb carbon dioxide.

 pollution haze covers much of south-east London (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File

Craig Bennett, UK chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said the target should not be reviewed after five years as it was a moral issue.

"You didn't have William Wilberforce say 'we should abolish slavery and then review it after five years,’” he said.

“If you really mean it you should get on with it. Set the target, get on with it and move as fast as we can.”

Gareth Redmond King, head of climate change at the environmental charity WWF, said the announcement was a "crucial first step"

But he added that developing innovative technologies like solar panels and wind turbines prove the UK could reach the same target five years sooner.

A climate activists lays in the road during an Extinction Rebellion protest in London
EPA

East London climate group Fossil Free Newham said damaging emissions from shipping and aviation would be ignored under the government’s definition of “net zero".

Louis Martin, a spokesman for the campaign, said: “There are different ways of looking at Prime Minister Theresa May’s commitment to go carbon ‘net zero’ by 2050.

“Yes, it is good news that grassroots movements have forced the government to come up with a plan to curb emissions. What is not good news however, is that by the Conservative government’s definition, ‘net zero’ will not include carbon emissions from shipping and aviation, the former of which could amount to 17 per cent of all emissions by 2050.”

“There’s no good being ‘net zero’ if global temperatures have risen by 2 degrees, floods and droughts have become a daily occurrence, and millions are forced to migrate from uninhabitable lands.”

Lord Deben, chairman of the Government's advisory Committee on Climate Change, praised the "major commitment".

He said: "This step will send a strong signal to other countries to follow suit - and will help to drive the global effort to tackle climate change required by the Paris Agreement.”

Shadow energy secretary Rebecca Long Bailey raised concerns over how the commitment would be put into practice

"While this announcement is welcome in theory, in practice it comes from a Conservative government that is off track to meet existing climate targets, that has no plans for legislation or investment needed to cut emissions, and that has dismantled the UK renewable energy sector while pushing fracking," she said.

Extinction Rebellion, the protest group that brought parts of London to a standstill with demonstrations in April, said Mrs May's 2050 target was a "death sentence".

It said in statement: "Were we to put our minds to it and do what is required to mobilise society to address the threat with the seriousness it deserves, the UK could embrace transformative change and decarbonise in years not decades.

"We welcome that the Prime Minister is finally talking about the emergency. This is a testament to the public pressure - including the more than 1,000 people willingly arrested for this cause - that is forcing politicians to confront the existential reality of the climate and ecological emergency. But it is not nearly enough."

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