UK sets new climate target, leading to net zero by 2050

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced new emissions target setting the UK on the path to net zero by 2050, leading the way in tackling climate change globally.

Boris Johnson on Friday set the new ambitious target to reduce the UK's emissions by at least 68 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, said a press release.

The target follows the Prime Minister's Ten Point Plan to create and support 250,000 jobs by 2030 whilst helping to eradicate the UK's contribution to climate change.

The plan sets out ambitious policies and investment, with the potential to deliver over £40 billion of private investment by 2030.

It also provides a roadmap of further action the UK will be taking to reduce emissions in the coming decades.

Recognising the urgency to go further to tackle climate change, the UK's new target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – Britain's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Climate Agreement – is among the highest in the world.

The announcement came ahead of the UK co-hosting the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December, which will coincide with the fifth anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement. 

Each party to the Paris Agreement - including countries and international blocs such as the European Union - determines what domestic action it will take and communicates it in a Nationally Determined Contribution.

NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement goal, set at COP21 in 2015, to hold the global temperature rise to well below two degrees and pursue best efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

Together, these plans will determine whether the world will achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, including global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.

"The summit calls on countries around the world to submit ambitious NDCs or other climate plans as we head towards the UN COP26 climate talks, which the UK Government is hosting in Glasgow next year," read the news release.

This new target of the UK meets the recommendation of experts at the independent Climate Change Committee who advise the government on emissions targets.

Boris Johnson said, "We have proven we can reduce our emissions and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process – uniting businesses, academics, NGOs and local communities in a common goal to go further and faster to tackle climate change."

"Today, we are taking the lead with an ambitious new target to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy, with our Ten Point Plan helping us on our path to reach it," he said.

But this was a global effort, which was why the UK was urging world leaders as part of next week's Climate Ambition Summit to bring forward their own ambitious plans to cut emissions and set net zero targets, added Boris.

Business and Energy Secretary and COP26 President Alok Sharma said, "Tackling climate change is the one of the most urgent shared endeavours of our lifetimes, demanding bold action from every nation to prevent catastrophic global warming."