Britain Pushes EU to Increase Emissions Target to 50%

In order to step up the attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions closer to 1990 levels, a fundamental part of the battle against climate change, Britain has challenged Europe to set new emission reduction targets of 50% by 2030.

Ed Davey, the UK secretary for energy and climate change, has said that “the UK is a global leader in tacking climate change and we need to maintain the momentum towards a binding global climate agreement 2015.

That is why we will argue for an E.U. wide binding emissions reductions target of 50 percent by 2030 in the context of an ambitious global climate deal and even a unilateral E.U. 40 percent target without a global deal.”

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Davey believes that the 2030 target is ambitious but achievable, and a necessity to limit climate change to manageable proportions; and that in order to be able to achieve the target countries must significantly invest in renewable energy and other low carbon technologies.

Whilst Britain is pushing for an ambitious emissions target, it is against the idea of a renewable energy target, claiming that the technology is still too uncertain and a target may not be cost effective, and prove too rigid.

“There a variety of options to decarbonize any country’s economy. In the U.K., our approach is technology neutral and our reforms will rely on the market and competition to determine the low carbon electricity mix. We will therefore oppose a Renewable Energy target at an E.U. level as inflexible and unnecessary.”

By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com