The Pope has said that the Holy See is committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse emissions before 2050.

Speaking at the virtual climate summit, Pope Francis said: “The Vatican City state has committed to reducing net emissions to zero before 2050, stepping up efforts in environmental management that were launched a few years ago.

“These enable the rational use of natural resources such as water and energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, reforestation and the circular economy and also in waste management.”

Pope Francis said the Holy See is also determined to promote environmental education among the 70 million people who attend Catholic universities and schools globally. 

European leaders confirmed their promise, agreed earlier this week, to cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030 on 1990 levels.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said the move was a “complete paradigm shift” and would be backed by at least 30 billion euro from the 108 billion euro budget over the next few years.

Speaking at the Climate Ambition summit, he also stressed the need to act collectively and to ensure multi-lateral mobilisation on the path to becoming climate neutral by 2050.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the 55% goal “is a go-ahead for scaling up climate action across our economy and society

She added: “We have already started, from boosting renewable energy, creating hydrogen valleys and producing the most sustainable batteries to launching a wave of building innovation, decarbonising transport and protecting and restoring our nature.

But Mrs von der Leyen said it was not a task for Europe alone, which accounts for less than 10% of emissions,  stating “climate change is more than a European issue, it is human issue”.

She said the EU  is “ready to work towards ambitious commitments with like-minded countries”.

President Xi Jinping has announced that China will enhance key headline targets in its national climate plan. 

He took the summit as an opportunity to detail how the country will cut carbon to reach its recent pledge of net-zero by 2060. 

“China will lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65% from the 2005 levels, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25%, increase the forest stock volume by six billion cubic metres from the 2005 level, and bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kw.”

He added: “China always honours its commitments – guided by our new development philosophy we will promote greener economic and social development in all aspects, while pursuing high quality development.

“In meeting the climate challenge, no-one can be aloof, and unilateralism will get us nowhere. Only by upholding multilateralism, unity and cooperation can we deliver shared benefits and win-win results for all nations.”

Boris Johnson used his slot at the summit to stress Britain’s 10 point climate plan for a “green industrial revolution”. 

In particular, he urged the UK to become “the Saudi Arabia of wind energy”, and outlined the government’s goal to ban new internal combustion engines by 2030.

The Prime Minister also hailed a new era of “scientific optimism” and said: “We are coming to the end of an extraordinary year with I think a sudden surge of scientific optimism, because of after barely 12 months of the pandemic we are seeing the vaccine going into the arms of the elderly and the vulnerable.” 

He said that we must “use scientific advances to protect our entire planet, our biosphere against a challenge far worse, far more destructive than coronavirus.

“At the same time, we can create thousands of jobs, millions of jobs as we collectively recover from the pandemic.”

Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres opened the Climate Ambition summit, stating that “5 years after the Paris Climate Agreement” we are “still not going in the right direction”.

He called on all world leaders to declare a climate emergency to ensure climate neutrality is reached by 2050 and said that this would be the central objective for the UN in 2021.

He emphasised that the world is now 1.2 degrees hotter than during pre-industrial times, and that if we don’t change course, we could reach catastrophic temperature rise of 3 degrees by the end of the century.

He also commended Britain and the EU for their bold new targets, stating that these decisions “deserve to be emulated”. 

The 2020 summit is about to begin, with Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres speaking first, followed by Boris Johnson.  You can watch the event live here at the top of this blog. 

All corners of British life will need a significant overhaul, from the cars we drive to the products we buy, if we are to achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the government’s climate advisers.

The UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) has set out in detail the actions we will need to take over the next 30 years in order to effectively end the UK’s contribution to the climate crisis.

Over the next five years, Britain will need shun coal-fired power, eat 10 per cent less meat and plant 30,000 hectares of new forest every year in order to be in line with the net-zero goal, the report says. 

In addition, all new homes built by 2025 will need to be “carbon-neutral” – meaning they must make use of low-carbon heating such as electric heat pumps instead of oil and gas boilers.

By the early 2030s, the sale of new oil and gas boilers for homes must stop completely, along with the sale of new petrol vehicles, the CCC said. 

At this point, power for cars and heating will increasingly come from low-carbon electricity, according to the report.

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has condemned the “distant, hypothetical targets being set” for the climate crisis and “empty words” being used by governments. 

The 17-year-old activist addressed her 10.5 million Instagram followers in a video, urging them to #FightFor1point5.

This is a reference to the target set out in the Paris accord to halt the average rise in world temperatures to 1.5C more than pre-industrial levels.

Five years after the Paris agreement was made, which was adopted by 196 countries on 12 December 2015, Ms Thunberg says “the action needed is still nowhere in sight”. 

The teenager warned that if we continue at our current rate, “our remaining CO2 budget of 1.5 degrees will be gone within seven years”.

 The UK has submitted its new national climate plan- or nationally determined contribution (NDC) – to the UN’s climate body, confirming its vow to cut greenhouse gas pollution by at least 68% by 2030 from 1990 levels.

It’s the first time the UK has put forward its own proposal under the global Paris Agreement, as it previously came under the European Union’s plans. 

Boris Johnson’s blueprint is a considerable step-up compared to the EU’s previous plan, which would have seen the UK cut pollution by just 53% as part of the EU’s wider effort to cut emissions by 40% by 2030. 

However, the EU has also announced bolder targets this year, with plans to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55% on 1990 levels across its 27 member states.

Ahead of today’s climate ambition summit, the UK has outlined how the country will adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis, including ecological threats, heatwaves, water shortages and flooding. 

And it has re-confirmed its pledge from 2019 to double funding for developing countries to help them cope with the climate emergency, to £11.6 billion over the next five years.

UK taxpayer funds will no longer be used to support overseas fossil fuel projects, as part of the government’s push for international climate action.  

Under the new plans, the UK Government will end export finance, aid funding and trade promotion for new crude oil, natural gas or coal energy projects, with “very limited exceptions” for some gas-fired power plants and other schemes.

Boris Johnson and his cabinet have been accused of hypocrisy for pushing a domestic green agenda and hosting COP26 while continuing to fund oil and gas developments in foreign nations. 

Over the last four years, taxpayers have supported £21bn of overseas fossil fuel developments through trade promotion and export finance. 

Although the move is being celebrated by climate crisis activists, many still worry that the government will find loopholes to fund polluting projects.