Announcing a target to cut greenhouse gases by at least 100% below 1990 levels in 2050 is a necessary step to tackle the climate emergency. The influential BP review of worldwide energy use estimates that global CO 2 emissions grew by 2% in 2018, the fastest growth for seven years. Ministers, however, have recently lost the focus on climate change, despite its existential threat, and the UK is recklessly opening new coal mines, extending Heathrow airport and pushing fracking. Net zero means no one will be able to emit much greenhouse gas in 30 years’ time. In these bits of the economy carbon, emissions are either rising or flatlining.

Source: The Guardian June 12, 2019 17:24 UTC