How UK plans to reach net zero by 2050 – here are the key details

Published

3 years ago

October 19, 2021

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The government has announced its strategy to meet its promise to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.

In the 368-page document, Boris Johnson said the aim is to “meet the global climate emergency but not with panicked, short-term or self-destructive measures”.

The prime minister added the plan will be driven forward by the “unique power of capitalism” to bring down the costs of going green “so we can make net zero a net win for people, for industry, for the UK and for the planet”.

These are the key pledges and policies – and Treasury concerns over how it will be paid for:

Power

The government confirmed a target for all electricity to come from low carbon sources by 2035 – subject to security of supply – which brings the plan forward by 15 years.

That includes:

• 40 gigawatts from offshore wind, including 1GW of floating offshore wind by 2030

• Deploying a carbon capture, utilisation and storage power plant

• By the end of this parliament (May 2024), the government wants to secure a final investment decision on a large-scale nuclear plant and make decisions after that for more nuclear projects

• Providing £380m for the offshore wind sector

• Fixed minimum annual installation targets of smart meters for energy suppliers from 1 January 2022 so everyone has one by 2026

• Ensuring energy prices are fair and affordable and consumers can use services that will support net zero

Fuel supply and hydrogen

The government wants to deliver 5GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030 while halving oil and gas emissions.

It plans to do that by:

• Providing up to £140m to establish a scheme that will fund new hydrogen and industrial carbon capture business models

• Implementing a £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund in 2022

• Working with the transport sector to develop a low carbon fuel strategy in 2022

• Working with companies to get rid of anything preventing the electrification of oil and gas production by October 2022

• Establishing a climate compatibility check for future licensing on the UK Continental Shelf – the water around the UK to which the country has mineral rights, including large resources of oil and gas

Industry

The ambition is for 6 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) to be delivered per year of industrial carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) by 2030, and 9 MtCO2 per year by 2035.

The government wants to set up four CCUS “clusters” by 2030.

To achieve this, it wants to:

• Set up a £1bn carbon capture and storage infrastructure fund

• Give £315m to the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to support the installation of energy efficiency and on-site decarbonisation measures – £289m for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, £26m for Scotland

How will this all be paid for?

A Treasury report has said funding the proposals will be difficult, especially as fossil fuel taxes will not be contributing, and warned “new sources of revenue” would be needed.

It added that passing the costs onto future taxpayers through borrowing would “deviate from the polluter pays principle” and would not be fair so the government “may need to consider changes to existing taxes and new sources of revenue”.

But, it said additional revenue could be raised from those doing the most polluting via “expanded carbon pricing”, therefore reducing the need to raise other taxes.

• Support switching from fuel to low carbon alternatives, with the aim of replacing around 50 TeraWatt Hours (TWh) of fossil fuels per year by 2035

• Consider the business and financial implications of setting targets for ore-based steelmaking to reach near-zero emissions by 2035

• Incentivise a cost-effective way of ending the reliance on carbon-emitting fuels in industry

Heat and buildings

The government wants to wean UK homes and all buildings off a reliance on fossil fuels by 2035 by making it affordable and achievable for everyone.

It has published the Heat and Buildings Strategy, which aims to:

• Support 175,000 green-skilled jobs by 2030 and 240,000 by 2035

• Phase out the installation of new gas boilers by 2035

• Introduce a £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme so grants of £5,000 will be available from April 2022 for people to replace gas boilers with low carbon heat pumps (currently around £10,000) at the same cost – with the aim of making heat pumps as cheap to buy and run as gas boilers by 2030

• Invest £60m in heat pump innovation to make them more aesthetically pleasing, smaller and easier to install

• Insulate and upgrade poor homes and social housing so they are more efficient by 2030 with a £1.75bn investment

• Set standards for privately rented homes so they are more energy-efficient by 2028 (and will consider doing this for social housing)

• Invest £1.425bn to reduce direct emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037

• Set a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC Band B (the second most efficient) by 2030 for privately rented commercial buildings in England and Wales

• Trial hydrogen heating on a large-scale to make a decision by 2026 on its future role

Transport

The government has pledged to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030 and from 2035 all new cars and vans must be zero-emission.

To achieve that it wants to:

• Set targets for a percentage of new vehicle sales to be zero-emission each year from 2024

• End the sale of all new, non-zero emission road vehicles by 2040 – including motorcycles, buses and HGVs

• Ensure the UK’s vehicle charging network is reliable

• Commit an additional £620m on top of the £1.9bn already pledged for zero-emission vehicle grants and electric vehicle infrastructure

• Have 25% of the government’s car fleet ultra-low emission by December 2022 and all zero-emission by 2027

• Invest £12bn in local transport systems by May 2024

• Invest £2bn in cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods so half of all town and city journeys can be walked or cycled by 2030

• Invest £3bn in buses, including 4,000 new zero-emission buses, more bus lanes and more frequent services

• Electrify all railway lines by 2050 and remove all diesel-only trains by 2040

• Phase out the sale of new non-zero emission domestic shipping vessels

• Use £180m of funding so 10% of commercial flights use sustainable aviation fuels by 2030

Natural resources, waste and fluorinated gases (man-made gases such as HFCs and PFCs used in industry that contribute to the greenhouse effect)

The government wants 75% of farmers in England to be using low carbon practices by 2030 and 85% by 2035.

It aims to do this by:

• Increasing research and development funding into how to deliver net zero in agriculture and horticulture

• Trebling tree growing to meet the target of 30,000 hectares of planting per year by May 2024 and maintain that from 2025 onwards

• Adding £124m to the existing £640m Nature for Climate Fund to restore at least 35,000 hectares of peatland in England, and create and manage woodlands by 2025 – helping farmers to change land use

• Restoring about 280,000 hectares of peat in England by 2050

• Supporting private investment in tree planting and peat restoration

• Increasing the use of timber in construction in England

• Putting £295m into English local authorities to implement free separate food waste collections for all households from 2025 to eliminate biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill from 2028

• Completing a review of F-gas regulations and seeing if they can go further

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Greenhouse gas removals (GGR)

The plan is to engineer the removal of at least 5 MtCO2 per year of greenhouse gases by 2030.

The government says it will do this by:

• Putting £100m of investment into GGR innovation and developing incentives to remove greenhouse gases

• Trying to amend the Climate Change Act to enable engineered GGR to contribute to UK carbon budgets

Politics

SNP and Scottish Greens power-sharing deal ends following climate target row

Published

4 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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SNP and Scottish Greens power-sharing deal ends following climate target row

The SNP has terminated its power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens following a bitter row over its climbdown on climate targets.

It comes after First Minister Humza Yousaf summoned a meeting of his Cabinet – usually held on a Tuesday – this morning following speculation over the future of the Holyrood deal, first struck by his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.

The deal, signed in 2021, was designed to facilitate governing between the two pro-independence parties in Holyrood.

But signs it was running into difficult came after the Scottish government scrapped its commitment to cut emissions by 75% by 2030.

The climate announcement also came on the same day that the prescription of puberty blockers for new patients under the age of 18 at a Glasgow gender identity service would be paused.

It means Mr Yousaf’s administration will now run a minority government at Holyrood.

Politics latest updates – Greens and SNP to hold news conferences

Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, accused the SNP of an “act of political cowardice” and of “selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country”.

“They have broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties who have twice chosen the co-operation agreement and climate action over chaos, culture wars and division,” she said. “They have betrayed the electorate.

“And by ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political cooperation, he can no longer be trusted.”

It is understood the first minister will hold a press conference this morning in the wake of the announcement. The Greens are also expected to talk to the media.

The power-sharing deal with the Greens, also known as the Bute House agreement, brought the party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.

Named after the first minister’s official residence in Edinburgh, it gave the SNP a majority in the Scottish parliament when its votes there were combined with those of the seven Green MSPs.

It created ministerial posts for the Scottish Green Party’s co-leaders Ms Slater and Patrick Harvie.

As well as the watering down of climate targets, the Greens were also dismayed at the pause of puberty blockers in the wake of the landmark Cass review into the landmark Cass review of gender services for under-18s in England and Wales.

Last week the Greens said it would hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement and Mr Harvie urged members to back it so the party could “put Green values into practice” in government.

But in the statement released today, Ms Slater said Green members were now not going to have a “democratic say” on the agreement, adding: “The most reactionary and backwards-looking forces within the first minister’s party have forced him to do the opposite of what he himself had said was in Scotland’s best interests.”

“If they can’t stand up to members of their own party, how can anyone expect them to stand up to the UK government at Westminster and defend the interests of Scotland?”

Politics

EU enacts crypto regulations to combat money laundering

Published

4 hours ago

April 25, 2024

admin

EU enacts crypto regulations to combat money laundering

The new legislation would impact crypto-asset service providers, like centralized crypto exchanges under MiCA.

Politics

‘Politicians mess it up every time’: New pre-election pledges may not be enough

Published

5 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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'Politicians mess it up every time': New pre-election pledges may not be enough

June gives me a wry smile when I ask her if she trusts politicians. But it soon fades.

“They promise you the Earth, and you don’t see anything. And it’s soul destroying,” she says.

I meet her and husband Joe as they tuck into fish and chips in the town’s oldest chippy, the Peabung, which has served this town since 1883.

June tells me she really wants to trust politicians but they “just mess it up every time”. I ask Joe if he thinks politicians care about him? “Well hopefully they do. I’m not sure really.”

He stops to think for a moment. “I don’t really trust politicians,” he says.

The findings of a Sky News/YouGov poll are stark and echo how voters like June and Joe feel. The findings suggest voters no longer believe what politicians say.

In some places, there appears to be a deep loss of faith in British politics.

Shannon Donnelly has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and has used the platform to develop her Grimsby-based business selling personal safety equipment, such as panic alarms. I ask her if she trusts politicians.

“No – I think things like Brexit has massively changed people’s opinion. I won’t forget when they said all that money would go to the NHS.

“Now we seem to be in a worse position, but they still expect us to trust them. It’s crazy.”

The percentage of Leavers saying they “almost never” trust the government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election. This is twice as much as the increase for Remainers.

Shannon’s lack of trust impacts on her livelihood and she says she doesn’t know which way to turn.

“For the business, obviously, it’s important to look at what they will do. We’re struggling. VAT is insane, overheads are crazy.”

Asked if people think politicians care about them, 83% of people asked said no, with just 11% saying they cared a little.

When asked how much do politicians care about your part of the country – there is a clear divide – 86% of people living in the north of England say they don’t care, whereas just 47% of Londoners say their elected representatives don’t care about their city.

Brian Wustrack owns the oldest fish and chip shop in Grimsby.

“They’re just not listening to the people that voted, it’s all a one-way system for them. They’ve lost touch with the people out there, especially the people in the North.”

The prime minister is still to announce the date of the next general election.

However, places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes are key election battlegrounds now. Support for the Conservatives may be fading but that won’t necessarily translate into strong support for Labour.

The Reform party is gaining ground in pro-Leave constituencies like this one, picking up their 2019 Tory voters.

But brace yourself for a raft of promises in the next few months.

The questions is will voters trust politicians to deliver on them.

The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is going to be live in Grimsby tonight with a special programme in our Target Towns series. She’ll be talking about trust in politics with a live audience – that’s live tonight on Sky News at 7pm

ALL THE CANDIDATES IN NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE’S LOCAL ELECTIONS

Croft Baker
Gemma Harney – Liberal Democrats
Marian Jervis – Labour Party
Graham Reynolds – Conservative Party

East Marsh
Lloyd Emmerson – Liberal Democrats
Barry Miller – Labour and Co-operative Party
Callum Procter – Conservative Party

Freshney
Tamzin Barton – Liberal Democrats
Tanya Brasted – Conservative Party
Paul Bright – Independent (part of Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Paul Wood – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
Samantha Wrexal Holborrow – Labour Party

Haverstoe
Stephen Hocknell – Liberal Democrats
Val O’Flynn – TUSC
Bill Parkinson – Conservative Party
Ian Townsend – Labour Party

Heneage
Brian Barrett – Liberal Democrats
Emma Clough – Labour Party
Tyrone Curran – Conservative Party
John Stiff – TUSC

Humberston & New Waltham
Ryan Aisthorpe – Liberal Democrats
Joe Carter – TUSC
Hayden Dawkins – Conservative Party
Pauline Kaczmarek – Labour Party

Immingham
David Barton – Liberal Democrats
Trevor Crofts – Conservative Party
Nathan Newton – TUSC
David Watson – Labour Party

Park
Robson Augusta – Labour Party
Zach Kellerman – Liberal Democrats
Dave Mitchell – TUSC
Daniel Westcott – Conservative Party

Scartho
Charlotte Croft – Conservative Party
Caroline Ellis – Liberal Democrats
Dan Humphrey – Labour Party
Val Pow – TUSC

Sidney Sussex
Andy Burton – Liberal Democrats
Alexandra Curran – Conservative Party
Mark Gee – TUSC
Edward Kaczmarek – Labour Party

South
Paul Batson – Conservative Party
Jane Bramley – Independent
Andrew Harrison – Liberal Democrats
Sheldon Mill – Labour Party
Bill Ward – TUSC

Yarborough
Les Bonner – Independent (part of the Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Sam Brown – Labour and Co-operative Party
Phil Tuplin – TUSC
Christine Vickers – Conservative Party
Aharon Wharton – Liberal Democrats