UK joins Carbon Neutrality Coalition

The UK will join a global alliance of nations pushing for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, making it the 19th country signed up to the Carbon Neutrality Coalition.

Members are required to develop long-term low-emission strategies in line with delivering the Paris Agreement’s target of restricting global warming to well below 2˚C above industrial levels.

The UK, Spain, Denmark and Canada are the latest countries to join, and follow a total of 32 cities that have also pledged to become emission neutral by the second half of the century.

“Setting long-term strategies moves away from an incremental approach to climate action,” a declaration from Carbon Neutrality Coalition reads. “They will ensure country-specific shorter-term planning and policy-making is measured against the long-term “lodestar”.

UK prime minister Theresa May also announced this week that the country would provide £160m in funding to help other nations transition to cleaner energy systems and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, May outlined how £60m of this funding would be focused on sharing expertise on energy market reform, clean growth, green finance and climate legislation.

Approximately £94.5m will go towards mitigating the effects of climate change and providing support to families most affected by droughts in Northern Kenya, while £15m will make it more profitable for companies to buy from smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The government said it had now committed at least £5.8bn of funding between 2016 and 2020 to help developing countries reduce emissions and build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Energy and clean growth minister, Claire Perry, said: “We were one of the first countries to recognise the challenge and huge economic opportunities of the global shift to a greener, cleaner economy.

“Now we want to share our world-leading expertise with developing countries. This £60m programme could provide the boost they need to begin their own clean growth movements, building economies fit for the future.”

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