How Wales is legislating its way to net zero in 2050
This post is by Jonathan Tench, international partnerships and networks adviser at the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.
Try and write about Wales and climate change without referencing coal. It’s impossible to avoid how coal, steel and slate forged modern Wales. Industrial emissions in South Wales account for over a tenth of the UK’s current carbon footprint. But, with this week’s announcement that Wales intends to make coal history, it’s Wales’ future path to net zero that is now unavoidable, due to a unique and world leading law which applies long term planning to protect current and future generations.
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In Paris in 2015, the world pledged to keep global temperatures to well below two degrees, or to 1.5c if possible. But when it came to concrete plans, their actions added up to a trajectory to well above three degrees. To fill the gap between goal and action, they promised to ratchet their emissions down in five years’ time, to match their actions to their aspirations.