The UK opposition's energy spokesman contends that reaching net zero of carbon emissions by 2050, is an arbitrary target. He claims there's no 'scientific rationale' for that date and that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is 'biased'. This politician (scientific qualifications please?) says he's not a climate change denier. He maintains, however, that the country can't be 'hamstrung' by the 2050 date. He even speculates that his current leader might take the UK out of the Paris Climate Agreement (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/13/tory-shadow-energy-minister-claims-2050-net-zero-goal-not-based-on-science). This is a calculated piece of 'cakeism' (having your cake and eating it). Not denying the problem but not doing anything about it that might annoy certain voters. If anything, 2050 will be too late to prevent average global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees Centigrade above pre-Industrial levels. Temperatures can only start to slowly come down, when there's less 'greenhouse gas' in the atmosphere. Given the existence of tipping points (e.g. loss of polar ice caps), 2050 could be too late. Science tells countries, like the UK, they should be aiming to get to net zero well before that date.
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