Recognising the urgency to go further to tackle climate change, the Prime Minister has laid out an ‘ambitious’ further commitment to achieving Net-Zero.
The new plan aims for at least 68% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade, compared to 1990 levels, the first target set by the UK following its departure from the EU, demonstrating the UK’s leadership in tackling climate change.
The announcement comes ahead of the UK co-hosting the Climate Ambition Summit on Saturday, which coincides with the fifth anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement. The summit calls on countries around the world to submit ambitious NDCs or other climate plans prior to the UN COP26 climate talks, which the UK government is hosting in Glasgow next year.
Trudy Harrison MP and Co-Chair of the Nuclear Delivery Group, a recently launched group aiming to highlight the use of atomic energy in achieving net zero and levelling up, joined colleagues for the NIA’s Nuclear 2020: Roadmap to Net Zero, this week.
Now in its 20th year, the conference, supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, brought together speakers from across all parts of the nuclear industry to update and discuss key developments in decommissioning, nuclear new build, export opportunities, skills and the road to Net-Zero.
Trudy said: "Nuclear power is reaching parts of Government policy like never before thanks to a collaborative industry and connected support from organisations like the NIA.
"The penny has dropped, the urgency is understood and the policies being pumped out from Whitehall support the nuclear sector across board. Copeland is the centre of nuclear excellence, it really is our time to shine"
The path to achieving the new 68% reduction target is backed by the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, which will create and support up to 250,000 British jobs by 2030.
The plan sets out ambitious policies and investment, with the potential to deliver over £40 billion of private investment by 2030, in order to develop innovative technologies and make significant strides in cutting emissions across energy, transport and buildings.
It also provides a roadmap of further action the UK will be taking to reduce emissions in the coming decades, encouraging similar levels of ambition from businesses, organisations and nations around the world.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We have proven we can reduce our emissions and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process – uniting businesses, academics, NGOs and local communities in a common goal to go further and faster to tackle climate change.
“Today, we are taking the lead with an ambitious new target to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy, with our Ten Point Plan helping us on our path to reach it.
"But this is a global effort, which is why the UK is urging world leaders as part of next week’s Climate Ambition Summit to bring forward.”
