Boris Johnson must recognise ‘hard work begins now’ with new 2035 climate pledge

Boris Johnson has announced a new pledge to cut the UK’s emissions by 78 per cent on 1990 levels by 2035. Daisy Dunne looks at the details of the new commitment

Boris Johnson is reportedly set to announce a new pledge to cut the UK’s emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, when compared to levels in 1990 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Boris Johnson has announced a new pledge to cut the UK’s emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, when compared to levels in 1990. The announcement comes ahead of a key US climate summit on Thursday, where it is hoped that major emitters will put forward more ambitious plans for tackling the climate crisis.

The commitment builds on the UK’s current pledge to reduce emissions by 68 per cent by 2030, which was made as part of its obligations under the Paris Agreement – an international climate deal made by countries in 2015.

The new 2035 pledge follows on from advice released by the UK’s Climate Change Committee in December. In a first-of-its-kind report, the independent advisory group said that reducing emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 would be key to the UK’s overall goal of hitting net-zero emissions by 2050.

In its net-zero report, the CCC said that Britain will need to rapidly turn its back on fossil fuel power and switch largely to electric cars and low-carbon home heating in the coming decades if it is to meet the goal. Slashing emissions at the speed needed will also require people to eat meat and dairy less often and to take fewer flights, the CCC said.

However, announcing the target today, the government said it did not plan to follow all of the CCC’s specific policy recommendations for achieving its tougher 2035 target. In particular, it said it wished to “maintain people’s freedom of choice, including on their diet”.

The government also confirmed that the UK’s carbon-cutting plan for the period 2033-2037, which is known as its “sixth carbon budget”, will for the first time include emissions from international aviation and shipping. This will make the UK the first major economy to extend its legal climate commitments to departing international flights – a major win for environmental campaigners.

Cait Hewitt, deputy director at the Aviation Environment Federation, said the move “should mark the beginning of the end for fossil-fuelled aviation”.

“After many years of slipping the net when it comes to climate change, and expecting special privileges, airlines will now need to start planning for a very different future.”

UK’s move to include international aviation emissions in its legal target could mark ‘the beginning of the end of fossil-fuelled aviation’, campaigners say (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Green experts have widely welcomed news of a stronger target, but continue to caution that new pledges from government need to be met with tangible action plans.

“Targets are much easier to set than they are to meet, so the hard work begins now,” said Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK.

“In order to actually deliver on this commitment, new measures to slash emissions from homes and transport should already be well underway.”

The government is currently not doing enough to be on track to meet its fourth and fifth carbon budgets, which span the period 2023 to 2032. Ministers are due to set out a comprehensive strategy for reaching net zero ahead of Cop26, a key round of UN climate talks that will be hosted in Glasgow later this year.

Eliot Whittington, director of policy at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge, said: “By committing to legislate for a new climate target of 78 per cent reduction by 2035, including aviation and shipping, the government reaffirms its ongoing ambition to do what is necessary to tackle climate change.

“These concerted commitments are welcome but there is an increasingly urgent need to see action in support of these ambitions with new longer term policies and more of the detail of the delivery strategy for the UK’s net zero vision.”