UK pledges punchy new climate goal – but these parts of the puzzle are missing
The pledge went down well at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, where rich, polluting countries like the UK are expected to lead by example. But the UK was warned detailed plans were missing. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan defended its fossil fuel production, calling it a “gift” from god.
The UK has unveiled a punchy new climate goal to slash its emissions by 81% by 2035.
The government said it is on a mission to “tackle the climate crisis in a way that makes the British people better off” – by investing in clean, home-grown power and cutting ties with volatile fossil fuel markets.
Announcing the target at the COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The race is on for the clean energy jobs of the future, the economy of tomorrow.”
The new pledge has gone down well at COP29, where rich, polluting countries like the UK are expected to lead by example among the 200 countries gathered for the talks.
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It matches what its climate advisers say is needed to tackle climate change at home and meet a promise it made under the landmark Paris Agreement, struck at COP21 in 2015.
Over the course of the last 35 years, since 1990, the UK has already cut its emissions by 50%.
Now it wants to cut them by a further 31% in just 10 years.
But the advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), warned the government is missing plans it needs to get there.
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“The good news is [the 81% target] is achievable,” said the CCC’s new chief Emma Pinchbeck.
“The less good news for government is they are behind on their [existing] targets.”
That is not because “we don’t have the technologies available, or that the economics don’t work”, but because we “haven’t had a delivery plan” from the government to get there, she said.
Sir Keir Starmer’s arrival at COP29 with a promise to drastically cut the UK’s carbon emissions will be a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy start to the climate talks.
The election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to drag the world’s largest economy out of the negotiations, was a colossal setback for a round of talks dedicated to raising ambition – and cash for the transition away from fossil fuels.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Sir Keir was one of the few heads of the G20 to actually show up at the talks. President Biden is absent, so too are the leaders of China, Brazil, Germany and France.
The UK’s commitment to cutting emissions will be seen as a statement that it is possible to be a leading economy and leave fossil fuels behind. This reinforces the message these talks are urgently trying to send: that net zero is an opportunity for growth, not economic suicide.
But it’s a political risk. Getting to the 81% cut in emissions within 10 years will take a colossal and, in the short term, costly effort.
Labour’s plans for zero carbon electricity, already ambitious, won’t get us there alone. Making homes more energy efficient and heating them without gas will be essential. So too will fiddly things like protecting peat bogs, uplands and reforming agriculture.
Within the corridors of this summit, Sir Keir’s gamble will be celebrated. Back home, the response might be less enthusiastic.
The UK has been “arguably the leading country in the world at getting emissions out of the power plant that provides the electricity coming through your plug”.
But the “problem right now is definitely in how we heat our homes and transport, how we get around”, she said, and flying and shipping also need plans to get clean.
Kenya’s foreign secretary called the target “quite ambitious”.
The world needs “concrete examples of one of the key economies making positive strides towards dealing with climate change”, Musalia Mudavadi told Sky News.
But he warned countries would be watching to ensure “that nobody is back-pedalling”.
Campaigners said if the UK wants to call itself a climate leader, it also needs to come up with new funding for climate measures in developing nations.
Oil and gas are a ‘gift’ from god
The target forms part of the UK’s new climate plan, and Sir Keir urged other countries at the summit to “come forward with ambitious targets of their own”.
It puts more pressure on other developed nations and host country Azerbaijan to publish their own plans, known in UN jargon as NDCs (nationally determined contributions).
On Sunday Azerbaijan refused to commit to publishing a new one during the summit.
Its autocratic president Ilham Aliyev used his opening speech to defend Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel industry, calling oil and gas a “gift of the God”, just like the sun and wind.
He lashed out at Western critics of his country’s oil and gas industry, saying it had been the victim of a “well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail” and “fake news”.
President Aliyev said it was “not fair” to call Azerbaijan a “petrostate”, because it accounts for less than 1% of the world’s oil and gas.
His government relies on fossil fuels for 60% of its budget and 90% of exports.
