Lib Dems: six ways to make the UK “zero carbon” by 2050
19th September 2017 | Commercial Energy
Liberal Democrat report details how a net zero carbon emissions economy will require carbon capture and storage, greater energy efficiency major forest planting efforts, and much more.
For what now seems the briefest of moments the UK government was keen to prioritise raising the country’s official climate targets to deliver a net zero carbon emissions economy.
It was the heady months of March 2016, post-Paris Agreement but pre-Brexit and pre-Trump, the days when David Cameron was still Prime Minister and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) still a member of the Whitehall estate.
After weeks of lobbying from former Labour leader and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, the then Climate Change Minister Andrea Leadsom told the Commons the government was working on a plan to enshrine a net-zero emissions target into law.
The idea was resurrected this weekend by the Liberal Democrats, gathered in Bournemouth for their party conference and looking to distinguish themselves with a more radical policy agenda, on the advice of former leader Paddy Ashdown. The party voted on Friday to pass a motion backing the ramping up of the existing targets under the Climate Change Act, from an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050 to delivering a net-zero UK by mid-century.
Lib Dem Plan
What does the radical Lib-Dem plan look like? Here’s the future of climate policy in their eyes:
- Everything, plus the kitchen sink – a whole portfolio approach
- A nation run on green power – this includes sustainable biomass, tidal lagoons, onshore wind, offshore wind and solar
- Biofuels, batteries and more will be needed for transport – this includes air transport and shipping
- Business goes further to boost efficiency – Circular Economy, greater use of recycled materials and the promotion of the sharing economy, virtual meetings and extended product lifespans
- Cutting the carbon fat from the land – a comprehensive bio-economy strategy covering agriculture, land use, and forestry in relation to climate change, with aggressive reforestation at its core
- Closing the seven per cent gap – increase investment to close gap between the “CCC max” plan which only gets to 93 per cent emissions reduction by 2050
More information available on the website below