Dear Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, therese.coffey.mp@parliament.uk,
My name is Leo Owen. I am the Country Manager for the United Kingdom for Climate Scorecard, a non-profit organization that monitors the climate policies and programs of leading greenhouse gas-emitting countries.
Based on a review of UK policies, we believe that much can be done to increase your country’s climate ambition, achieve the global goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and become carbon neutral by 2050. Therefore, we suggest you adopt the following goals and announce them at COP28.
# 1 The United Kingdom Announces It Will Strengthen Its Paris Agreement Pledge: As of 2022, the UK has pledged to achieve a target reduction of 68 % (gigatons) by 2030. We suggest that you announce a revision of this and related targets at COP 28. We suggest that you announce that by 2030, the United Kingdom will reduce its emissions by 73% and become carbon neutral by 2050. This goal can be achieved by strengthening carbon pricing mechanisms such as carbon taxes to create economic incentives for emission reductions. Additionally, implementing stringent energy-saving standards across various sectors, including industry and transport, by introducing energy-saving technologies as well as incentives for other energy-saving measures is required for the UK to meet this target.
# 2 The United Kingdom Announces It Will End the Production of Fossil Fuels: Between April and June 2023, fossil fuels generated 25.1 TWh, 24% lower than last year. We suggest you prioritize investment in research, development and infrastructure in renewable energy generation, phasing out coal by 2030 and unabated gas by 2045.
I hope you will incorporate these suggestions in your presentation at COP 28, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Leo Owen
Climate Scorecard – United Kingdom Country Manager