UK to announce more ambitious climate targets, IEA warns of massive carbon

The UK is expected to speed up its climate change goals with a new announcement this week.

Boris Johnson will reveal that carbon emissions will be cut by 78% by 2035 instead of by 2050, while the climate law will cover international aviation and shipping for the first time.

The government based its decision on advice by the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC), using 1990 emissions levels as a benchmark.

Johnson’s statement comes ahead of a climate summit organised by US President Joe Biden, the Financial Times reported.

The UK is committing to cut its emissions to 78% below 1990 levels by 2035, including international aviation & shipping

The target is a step change vs earlier carbon budgets

But govt projections show there’s a huge gap between ambition + deliveryhttps://t.co/6mmqqcOOWY pic.twitter.com/Hx7vaVoMnr

— Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) April 20, 2021

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned global energy-related CO2 emissions will rise by 1.5bn tonnes in 2021, the second-largest annual increase ever.

It’s driven by a strong rebound in demand for coal to generate electricity as emerging markets are driving energy demand back above 2019 levels.

However, renewables are set to provide more than half of the increase in global electricity supply in 2021, with China likely to account for almost half the global increase.