NEWS SUMMARY WITH COMMENT

By FT, comment by Mathew Carr — LONDON: The UK will this week commit to a deeper cut in carbon emissions as it prepares to host the UN’s COP26 climate summit later this year, according to people briefed on the plan, Financial Times reported.

“Prime minister Boris Johnson will in coming days announce a new pledge to reduce emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. The new UK target will be announced ahead of a major US climate summit on Thursday, where President Joe Biden is due to outline a new national goal for US carbon reduction,” the newspaper said.

COMMENT: What would be a more compelling carrot for developing nations would be extra green finance from Britain in the next 10 years, effectively allowing it to tighten its target for 2030 (perhaps by using emissions trading) to a 78% reduction from the existing 68%. That said, 73% for 2030 might be enough to get poorer nations into the hoped-for COP26 deal on the Paris climate-deal rulebook.

https://www.ft.com/content/a8c749b1-35fe-4613-a9b8-45688177843c