LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday set out his ambition for a green revolution that he hopes will force Western economies to kick their addiction to fossil fuels.
Britain at the end of the month hosts the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, which aim to strengthen global action on global warming.
“With the major climate summit COP26 just around the corner, our strategy sets the example for other countries to build back greener too as we lead the charge towards global net zero,” Johnson said.
Johnson, who once expressed skepticism about climate change, presented his 368-page net zero strategy as a document that would put the UK at the vanguard of green economies.
“The UK leads the world in the race to net zero,” he said in the foreword to the “Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener.”
“The likes of China and Russia are following our lead with their own net zero targets, as prices tumble and green tech becomes the global norm,” he said.
The net-zero strategy is essentially a series of long-term promises, some with caveats, to shift the world's fifth largest economy towards green technologies — from moving to clean electricity “subject to security and supply” to “setting a path” to low-carbon heating in British homes.
It aims to secure 440,000 jobs and unlock £90 billion ($124 billion) of private investment by 2030.
It also aims to help Britain gain a competitive edge in low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, electric vehicles, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen.
The government aims to be powered entirely by clean electricity, subject to security of supply, by 2035. It aims to have 40 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, as well as 1 GW of floating offshore wind.
Britain will also deliver 5 GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030 while cutting its emissions from oil and gas by half.
The government aims to deploy at least 5 million tons of CO2 a year of engineered greenhouse gas removals by 2030.
Earlier on Tuesday, Johnson announced nearly £10 billion of private investment in green projects at an investment summit in London.
