Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for a ‘reset’ of the UK’s approach to climate change, arguing that net zero was losing public support
In a report out today the Tony Blair Institute argues that a public backlash could ‘derail the whole agenda’
The planet needs a new political strategy that rebuilds public trust in climate policy. To do that, politicians need to show they are listening – and delivering on their promises says the Think Tank set up by Blair
In a report out today they say that despite the past 15 years seeing an explosion in renewable energy and despite electric vehicles becoming the fastest-growing sector of the vehicle market, with China leading the way in both, production of fossil fuels and demand for them has risen, not fallen, and is set to rise further up to 2030.
Leaving aside oil and gas, in 2024 China initiated construction on 95 gigawatts of new coal-fired energy, which is almost as much as the total current energy output from coal of all of Europe put together.
Meanwhile, India recently announced they had reached the milestone of 1 billion tonnes of coal production in a single year.
Airline travel is set to double over the next 20 years.
By 2050, urbanisation is expected to drive a 40 per cent increase in demand for steel and a 50 per cent increase in demand for cement – core inputs to development, but materials with a significant emissions footprint.
Africa – at present responsible for just 4 per cent of global emissions – will see its population double in the next thirty years. This growth will demand energy, infrastructure and resources.
And though action by the developed world is still vital, by 2030 almost two-thirds of global emissions will come from China, India and South-East Asia. Yet the global financial flows for renewable energy in the developing world have fallen and not risen in the past few years.
