As the host of COP26, he has focused on taking domestic measures with effect in the near future that will allow him to achieve the goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to “pressure” other world leaders to act quickly.
Boris Johnson completed two years as prime minister. At the national level, he is the protagonist of multiple controversies, but at the international level, few have had the luck of leading multilateral scenarios such as the G7 and the COP26.
From there, he has sought to promote a greener agenda and, incidentally, give his country a leading place in the world.
The United Kingdom, in the temporary presidency of COP26, has based its strategy, which it is implementing at the local level and seeks to extend worldwide, on four issues: reducing the use of coal to produce energy, converting gasoline to electric cars , allocate millionaire resources to support developing countries in the fight against climate change and plant trees.
Without a doubt, the goal of reducing emissions to zero by 2050 requires profound transformations that must be made immediately. A first goal is to cut 78% of its emissions by 2035.
“We will eliminate the use of energy from coal by 2024 and by 2030 we will end the sale of new diesel and gasoline vehicles,” said the president of COP26, Alok Sharma.
Scotland and the UK, leading the transformation
As the region with the country’s oil fields that has become a major source of income, Scotland has already started to move towards the transition from fossil fuels to greener and more environmentally friendly ones. It has made progress, especially in the production of offshore wind energy.
According to the BBC, wind power production has a capacity of around 10 GW, which the government promised to quadruple by 2030.
Legislation must also be implemented to guarantee those profound transformations that not only industries but the general public must undergo.
According to Johnson’s spokesperson for COP26, Allegra Stratton, the UK has cut its use of coal for power from 20% in 2012 to 1.5% today and the target is zero by 2024.
The United Kingdom has also offered 2 billion pounds sterling (about 2,738 million dollars) for developing countries to end the use of coal, considered the dirtiest fuel for its amount of emissions.
The Government affirms that almost 40% of the power generation in the country comes from renewable energies.
New heating systems in England and Wales
Prior to the inauguration of COP26, the Government launched a subsidy plan so that homes in England and Wales can replace, from April 2022, their heating systems, necessary for the winter, with more ecological ones.
Each household will receive 5,000 pounds, almost 7,000 dollars, and will have to put a surplus.
The announcement has generated controversy because the country has approximately 23 million of these tanks that must be replaced, but that subsidy will only cover 90,000, in three years.
Greener cars by 2030
The plan is that by 2030 they will stop selling new cars that require gasoline or diesel. “The expectation and hope is 2035”, has recognized Stratton.
In September, the sale of fully electric cars reached record levels with 33,000. This figure, highlights ‘The Guardian’, is close to sales for all of 2019.
This behavior could have been motivated by the crisis that caused the gasoline shortage due to the lack of drivers to distribute it and a change of consciousness among buyers.
However, there is still no government policy that motivates and encourages the purchase of this type of vehicle.
The government plan also provides millionaire resources for the installation of charging points on more public roads for electric cars.
In addition to ensuring a green transformation of the transport industry, including air.
Projects with hydrogen and carbon capture
To achieve this successful and necessary transition from fossil fuels to renewables, the Government has announced the creation of a fund to encourage and develop the hydrogen economy.
For this reason, it will finance seven pilot hydrogen transport projects and will allocate 19.5 million pounds sterling (about 26.7 million dollars) to develop the technology to capture carbon dioxide before it arrives or is already in the atmosphere. and store it underground.
“We want to be the Qatar of hydrogen,” said Boris Johnson.
“Hydrogen has been a really powerful fuel because when it burns it doesn’t leave any emissions,” explains the Director of the Energy Transition Institute at Robert Gordon University, Paul de Leeuw.
Experts emphasize that transition cannot happen overnight and developing countries will need not only resources but technology to achieve it.
“The way to achieve a smooth transition is to keep pushing to reduce consumption, but at the same time incentivize the development of more renewable energy,” said Alexander Kemp, professor of petroleum economics at the University of Aberdeen.
But the director of Aberdeen Climate Action, Erik Dalhuijsen, believes that “the UK is doing a great job with hollow promises.”
“It is still issuing new oil and gas production exploration and development licenses, which completely contradicts all the government’s” climate-friendly “statements. Scotland has no say in these licenses ”.
Pressure leaders to reach agreements
At COP26, we will see a prime minister who will seek to convince more than 120 leaders, who are expected to attend the summit, to take the definitive step that changes the pace of the planet’s climate catastrophe.
He has already begun to put pressure on different leaders through diplomatic channels and by phone to keep the Paris Agreement alive.
However, on the eve of the inauguration of COP26, he has confessed his fear that the summit will not achieve the necessary progress.
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