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Government zero-carbon goal funding criticised

Posted: 6 September 2019 | | No comments yet

The UK government has received censure after the allocation of a mere £30 million towards the UK’s zero-carbon goal.

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The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded £30 million to progress the current decarbonisation projects, across the nation, which include those in the transportation sector, in a bid to steer the industry towards the goal of net-zero carbon by 2050, but is £30 million enough to substantiate this goal?

With the global push to reduce carbon emissions, the government has tirelessly advocated its 2050 net-zero target. According to The Independent, environmental experts have warned that the money promised is just 0.1 per cent of what is required to truly have an impact.

Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has stressed that Britain has delivered just one of the 25 policies it set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The government is doing less now to cope with the climate crisis, than it was 10 years ago, despite declaring the climate change emergency in May 2019, argued the CCC.

According to the BEIS, 2018 transport accounted for a third (33 per cent) of all carbon dioxide emissions in 2018. The large majority of these emissions were from road transport.

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth suggested an investment of at least £42 billion to tackle the climate crisis, which is double what is currently being spent and would amount to just two per cent of annual economic output.

Andrea Leadsom, the Business Secretary, argued that the £30 million would still position the UK as the world leader in tackling the climate issue and more investments are currently being made in biodiversity.