The world cannot be “caught napping” on climate change as it was with the coronavirus, Boris Johnson said yesterday, as he outlined plans for a green industrial recovery for the UK focused on new technology.
“Humanity was caught napping by coronavirus,” the prime minister told a UN General Assembly climate roundtable. “We were woefully under prepared. But for climate change, nobody can say that we have not been warned.”
He said the UK would “build back better” by pursuing a green industrial strategy that focused on “putting a big bet” on hydrogen to fuel vehicles including planes, and on wind power.
Mr Johnson said the UK would strive to become “the Saudi Arabia of wind” by developing its wind power capacity, already the biggest in the world.
He also said he was now a “complete evangelist” for nascent carbon capture and storage technology, in which emissions are caught and sequestered, and said nuclear and solar power would have an important role to play in the country meeting its climate goals.
A mass rollout of energy efficiency retrofitting of British homes, and bringing forward the current 2040 date to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid electric vehicles would also be part of the path to decarbonisation, the prime minister said.
Critics of hydrogen caution that it is a high-risk investment because to be truly green it is energy intensive and expensive, and otherwise depends on polluting natural gas.
The prime minister also announced that the UK will host a virtual summit in December to mark five years since the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to at least 2C, and ideally 1.5C to avert catastrophic effects.
Countries in the Agreement are expected to announce updated targets on the way to reaching the goal by the end of this year.
As the co-host of the postponed UN global climate summit in Glasgow next year, the UK is expected to steer diplomatic efforts on the environment, but has yet to announce its own target.
And while the UK was the first major economy to commit to a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, the Government has been criticised by its own climate change advisers for failing to enact the necessary policies to get there.
Mr Johnson said yesterday that the UK would soon announce a “very ambitious” new target and called on other countries to do the same.
He said a recent announcement by China, by far the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, that it intended to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060 was “a powerful signal to the world.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/24/boris-johnson-warns-against-napping-climate-change/?fbclid=IwAR2zGGAZZrwRlJdtZPTpwdm–v_-PhhYdc45NDCdRLcgguZK73XpumfknG4
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