Campaigners urge PM Johnson to 'turbocharge' climate plans ahead of U.N. summit

By Matthew Green

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves as he leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, February 26, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson should "turbocharge" policies to cut Britain's carbon emissions so the country can lead by example when it hosts a major U.N. climate summit in Glasgow in November, campaign groups said on Monday.

 

Although Britain was the first G7 nation to adopt a legally-binding target to cut CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050, campaigners say the commitment will carry little weight unless the government starts showing it is serious.

 

"The UK must also get its own house in order," said a letter to Johnson backed by 60 groups working on the environment and international development, including Oxfam, Greenpeace, ShareAction and the World Wildlife Fund.

 

"The coming months must see a green turbocharging of our decarbonisation policies and investment to maximize our emissions reductions, so that we reach net-zero as soon as possible," said the letter, signed by representatives of the Climate Coalition and Bond, two umbrella groups.

 

The campaigners set out their priorities in a "Glasgow Action Plan https://www.theclimatecoalition.org/glasgowactionplan" that included Britain unveiling more ambitious and detailed decarbonization plans ahead of the summit, stopping financing fossil fuel projects abroad, and leading international efforts to boost aid for countries hit by climate disasters.

 

Britain should also ramp up support for what are known as "nature-based solutions" - harnessing processes at work in soil, forests, grasslands, peatlands, mangroves or other ecosystems to absorb and store large amounts of carbon, the letter said.

 

Preparations for the Nov. 9-20 summit were marred by acrimony in January when Johnson sacked former energy minister Claire O'Neill as summit president, prompting her to write a scathing letter saying his government's promises of action "are not close to being met."

 

With the Earth currently on track for temperature increases that could render many currently densely populated regions uninhabitable, the summit is seen as critical to shoring up the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

 

The British hosts are supposed to take the lead in cajoling big polluting countries into announcing more ambitious targets to cut emissions in the run-up to the gathering.

 

For its part, Britain can point to progress in reducing emissions from its power sector by switching to renewables, but it has made less headway in cleaning up heating, transport, agriculture and industry.

 

Business Minister Alok Sharma, who took over as summit president, last week called on countries to ramp up momentum toward a zero carbon economy in Glasgow by committing "to significant further cuts" in CO2 emissions by 2030.

 

(Reporting by Matthew Green; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-02

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Bond?  Obviously not James....

 

I believe in Bond, the Creator of Coalition, Maker of Green and Peace,

And in Albert Gore, Bond's only son and stooge.....

 

Surely it is time for a fitting Apostles' Creed for this religion that has all the trappings of the Spanish Inquisition.

The so-called action plan (which I've just waded through) must be the longest national suicide note in history.

 

Tell them (politely, of course) where to stuff it, Boris.

 

 

Most world leaders are climate change believers except for that knucklehead POTUS. 

I know, let’s all live in mud huts and travel on trains and carbon fibre yachts, simples.

Edited March 2, 20206 yr by twocatsmac

Everyone's sick to death of these climate activists, self-indulgent narcissists whose only way to try to make themselves feel better is to make trouble in the lives of as many people as possible. 

 

Most of them don't know how many beans make five, so it's simply misguided self-importance that gives them the nerve to try and direct the UK's strategic planning to fit in with what they want to happen.

 

Johnson should tell these nimrods to eff off, and keep their silly cosplay activities for the Glastonbury festival.

I wonder if the "activists" use gas to heat their houses? I doubt there is enough electricity to heat everyone's house by that method, unless they buy it in from Holland which uses coal to generate electricity.

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Britain was the first G7 nation to adopt a legally-binding target to cut CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050,

Sooooo, given that steel is made using coke how do they intend to get by without it? Perhaps by importing it from a country that has not decided to go carbon zero, or by replacing steel with plastic?

BTW, as most of us know, plastic is made from oil.