Is Boris Johnson Serious About Climate Change?
Getting the U.K.’s ambitious climate targets into legislation is important, but only Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak can make them reality.
Time for change.
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images EuropeThe climate action shifts to President Joe Biden on Thursday as he attempts to regain U.S. credibility on the topic at a two-day green summit. But as hosts of this year’s COP26 — and as the first country to pledge to get to net zero by 2050 — there’s also a lot at stake for the U.K. It’s no exaggeration to say that “Global Britain,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit branding for an outwardly engaged country, stands or falls on what his government says it its “foremost international priority.”
On Wednesday Johnson upped the ante by pledging to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, adopting the recommendation of the U.K.’s independent Climate Change Committee.