Decarbonisation and Clean Growth
The prioritisation of decarbonisation outlined in the Paris Agreement, along with earlier commitments made within the Kyoto protocol, has brought nations together, making binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions, with the central goal of ensuring that temperatures don’t rise 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level. With 196 current signatories, economies have begun to factor in the need for less investment in carbon, with the UK leading the G20 nations in decarbonising its economy in the 21st century. Efforts made to decarbonise have been put in place by various countries, with more than 150 governments having submitted plans to reduce carbon emissions by 2030. The UK government is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide occurring as a result of transport and power generation is essential to meet global temperature standards set by the Paris Agreement and UK government.
The global transport system is run primarily on carbon-based fuels such as diesel and petroleum, but electric vehicles becoming more widely-used would improve the contribution of the transport sector to reducing carbon emissions. In practice, changes made include Paris’ pledge to ban diesel vehicles from 2040, and Transport for London schemes to introduce electric and electric hybrid London buses and black cabs. Renewable energy sources are also being implemented more widely, and now produce a third of all power capacity worldwide.
