A promise to commit to stronger climate change goals from Downing Street has been met with mixed reactions in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
The targets, set to become law in June 2021, include cutting carbon emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, bringing forward the government\u2019s original plans by 15 years.<\/p>\n
This means the UK will be in a world-leading position in its commitments to becoming net-zero.<\/p>\n
Richard Teasdale, Co-ordinator of the Greenpeace Sheffield local group, said: \u201cI honestly don\u2019t know if it\u2019s enough. My main point is that we need to move as quickly as humanly possible to net-zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new plans come as the government has been criticised for supporting airport expansions and road building at the same time as aiming for net-zero.<\/p>\n
Mr Teasdale said: \u201cIf you build roads, people will fill them. So that\u2019s going completely in the wrong direction if you want to reduce the amount of carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Green Party said: \u201cWe welcome the move but it’s clear that the targets must be backed up by urgent and concrete policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government claim the target is possible with more electric cars, low-carbon heating, renewable electricity and cutting down on meat.<\/p>\n
For the first time, the damage of international shipping and aviation emissions will also be included.<\/p>\n
Kyle Hunter, 23, a student climate activist in Sheffield, said: \u201cThese are promising goals, but we need more than an action plan.<\/p>\n
“We can\u2019t have the government supporting new runways then backing green policy in the same breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scientists say a 78 per cent cut in emissions is needed to keep the level of rising global temperatures close to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as US President Joe Biden will be holding a key climate change summit with world leaders this week.<\/p>\n
The UK is also preparing for COP26 in the autumn, seen by many as a \u2018last chance\u2019 summit to commit to action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A promise to commit to stronger climate change goals from Downing Street has been met with mixed reactions in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":35447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[415,41,21,50],"tags":[456,73,191,457],"class_list":["post-35441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-environment","category-news","category-politics","tag-climate-change","tag-government","tag-green-party","tag-green-peace"],"yoast_head":"\n