UK Declares a Climate Emergency as Scientists Recommend Going 'Net-Zero' by 2050

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The UK parliament has declared a โ€œclimate emergencyโ€, though the legislative and policy implications of the indicative motion remainย unclear.

Westminster became the third of the UKโ€™s legislatures to declare to give the state of the climate โ€œemergencyโ€ status, following the Scottish parliament and Welsh Assembly. Dozens of councils have also declared climateย emergencies.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who brought the motion to parliament, said MPs unanimously accepting the statement meant the UK could โ€œmake clear to Donald Trump that he cannot ignore international agreements and action on the climate crisis.โ€ MPs accepted the motion without a vote lastย night.

Environment Secretary Micheal Gove, speaking for the government, said he accepted โ€œthe situation we face is an emergency,โ€ but did not formally back Labourโ€™s calls to declare it. He called on all parties to agree ways the UK could continue to be a leader on climateย change.

The motion demonstrates the will of the house, but has no immediate policy or legislativeย implications.


Read more: ‘Climate Emergency’: How Extinction Rebellion’s Language of Urgency is Shaping the Politicalย Agenda


The declaration came the night before the governmentโ€™s official scientific advisor, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), recommended the UK aim to reach โ€˜net-zeroโ€™ emissions by 2050. Activists including Extinction Rebellion, for which declaring a climate emergency was a core demand, say the deadline to go net-zero should be much earlier.

The declaration was broadly welcomed by campaigners, who said the government now needed to turn words intoย action.

Tom Villa, a campaigner with Christian Aid, said in aย statement:

โ€œMPs from all parties and the Government itself need to turn this declaration of climate emergency from warm words into tangible actions including a massive scale-up of public investment, both in the UK and overseas, to cut greenhouse gasย emissions.โ€

โ€œMost of the people facing droughts, floods and rising sea levels, have not caused this climate emergency. What they need now is much more radical action from countries like the UK,โ€ heย said.

Calls for more radical action were echoed by other campaigners. Tytus Murphy, a campaigner with 350.org, said in aย statement:

โ€œIt is not enough for politicians to say that we need to move to net zero emissions quickly โ€“ this has been known for years. What is needed now is for MPs to support specific policy and regulatory measures that bring about the end of fossil fuels over the next two decades, and forge the cross-party consensus for these measures that will ensure they are translated intoย legislation.โ€

โ€œThis requires an immediate and permanent ban on fracking, bringing the North Sea Oil and Gas sector into managed decline, rejecting Draxโ€™s application to convert its coal-burning units to gas, kicking the third runway at Heathrow into the tall grass, ending UK finance that funds fossil fuel exploration and extraction around the world, and divesting pension funds from fossil fuel companies,โ€ heย said.

Image: UK Parliament/Flickr CC BYNCย 2.0

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Mat was DeSmog's Special Projects and Investigations Editor, and Operations Director of DeSmog UK Ltd. He was DeSmog UKโ€™s Editor from October 2017 to March 2021, having previously been an editor at Nature Climate Change and analyst at Carbon Brief.

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