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National Grid energy report criticised by campaigners amid mounting climate change concerns

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A flagship energy report published by The National Grid in recent days has come under fire over its ‘lack of ambition’ amid mounting concerns that the UK is not on track to meet its climate change targets.

Environmental campaign group WWF has said that the report – which outlines four ‘possible scenarios’ for the future of UK energy supplies – fails to adequately assess how Britain will meet its climate change targets under the Paris Agreement.

One of the report’s four scenarios, dubbed ‘Two Degrees’, claims to have been based on the Agreement’s historic target for the maximum amount of global warming.

But the WWF says that the increase in the global average temperature must be held “well below” 2C and that efforts should be enforced to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5C” in coming years.

This comments follow widespread research which has, of late, stressed that the previously-held belief that the most detrimental effects of climate change are unlikely to surface until after 2C of warming is now long outdated.

Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate and energy policy at WWF, said: “[The] assessment by the National Grid is disappointing and shows that the UK needs a better and more ambitious plan for how we meet increased energy demand whilst cutting emissions.

“The UK can't possibly be left answering ‘two degrees’ to a question about how we plan to meet our international commitments to tackle climate change.

“It just fails to set the level of ambition necessary to deliver what we signed up to under the Paris Agreement – the answer needs to be 1.5 degrees.”

Currently, as a result of greenhouse gases, the world is thought to have warmed by just shy of 1C.

The National Grid’s full report, entitled Future Energy Scenarios, can be accessed here.    

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