EXPERT REACTION: Departing PM Theresa May commits UK to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 

Net zero emissions is what is ultimately needed to stabilise the climate. Putting this goal in UK legislation is a strong signal. Australia will need to work out where our journey with national emissions will go. The Paris Agreement asks all countries to table a long-term low-emissions strategy, and it is time for Australia to produce one. We need to understand our options to get towards zero net emissions in the longer term, and the opportunities for Australia to benefit economically from a global low-carbon shift. We need to develop a shared understanding between governments, industry and civil society about how our economy will get towards zero net emissions, in a way that grows the economy and is beneficial socially.

Adopting a legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050 by the UK is a major step forward in meeting the climate change challenge. It clearly and emphatically shows that a country that is deeply divided on other issues can come together and build a unified stand on the most important issue facing humanity this century. Hopefully other countries that have treated climate change as a political football, such as Australia, can learn from this important example.

The UK goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 is entirely consistent with the scientific consensus. It is the goal to which the global economy must aspire if we have a 50% chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C by 2100. A 2017 study* laid out the path to net zero emissions by 2050. It requires that gross emissions peak no later than next year and approximately halve every decade after that. There are many more studies explaining how we can achieve this, and this announcement from the UK is beginning to demonstrate the political will to make significant changes. It is sobering to consider that this is being pursued by the UK, whose total emissions are less than Australia’s, and per capita emissions about one third of ours.

* Rockström, J., Gaffney, O., Rogelj, J., Meinshausen, M., Nakicenovic, N. and Schellnhuber, H.J., 2017. A roadmap for rapid decarbonization. Science 355(6331), 1269-1271. [doi: 10.1126/science.aah3443]

It's great to see the UK leading the way in efforts to turn around climate change and lessen the impacts that are increasingly being felt around the world.  This will be a growing trend in many nations that will result in a rapid phase out of fossil fuels, particularly coal.  Australia has a much greater potential for renewable energy than the UK.  Australia needs to grasp the social, environmental and economic opportunities that will flow with the transition to renewables or be left behind with a dependence on declining fossil fuel mining