UN climate report ‘confirms govt’s priority of carbon neutrality’

The prime minister said Tuesday that the “red alert” given by the UN report on the climate “confirms the correctness” of the government’s “strategic priority”, pointing out the need to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

“Red alert from the UN [United Nations] confirms the correctness of our strategic priority. We were the first, as early as 2016, to commit to carbon neutrality in 2050. The path to 2030 is decisive,” reads a message from António Costa on ‘Twitter’.

Tweet from @antoniocostapm

The prime minister also points to measures such as “more energy efficiency and renewable energy; investing in the circular economy, the efficient use of water and sustainable mobility; reforming the forest and leading the Oceans agenda”.

“In short, fulfil the government programme and execute the Carbon Neutrality 2050 Roadmap,” it concludes.

In the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released on Monday, scientists predict that the global temperature will rise 2.7 degrees Celsius in 2100, if the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions continues.

In all scenarios considered by the experts – from the most optimistic to the most pessimistic – the global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to the pre-industrial era, by 2030, that is, 10 years before the IPCC’s previous estimate, made three years ago.

In the document, scientists also warned that the effects of global warming will last “centuries or millennia” and are unequivocally the result of human responsibility.

The report is released a few months before the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and at a time when news of countries affected by heatwaves, fires or floods have marked the news.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has already said that this climate report is a “red alert” that should sound the alarm on fossil fuels that “destroy the planet”.