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Jersey is now committed to drastically reduce its carbon emissions so that it emits no more than it can soak up by 2050.
New petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from 2030 and work will begin to expand beds of seagrass around the island to capture greenhouse gasses.
Over the next four years, £23m will be spent to encourage islanders to buy electric cars, change gas and oil heating systems, use alternative sources of fuel, and walk, cycle and catch the bus more.
In the States on Friday, Members overwhelmingly adopted the Government’s ‘Carbon Neutral Roadmap’. Only Senator Sarah Ferguson – who denies that rising global temperatures are caused by human activity – voted against.
It is not clear how much decarbonisation will cost the island beyond 2026, although the overall cost of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 has been estimated to cost around £250m.
The Roadmap commits the Government to draft a long-term financing strategy for debate and approval.
Presenting the proposal, Assistant Environment Minister Jess Perchard said that the debate was the culmination of a process that began when the Assembly declared a ‘climate emergency’ in May 2019.
She added that the world was approaching a tipping point, when it would be too late to reserve humanity’s impact on rising temperatures.
“The window is still open, but it is about to shut,” she said, adding that it was the most important proposition that politicians would ever debate.
Deputy Rob Ward, who brought the climate emergency proposal three years ago, said he believed the roadmap had been watered down but he understood the competing pressures involved.
“But it is a step forward because it is going to fact impact in generation that have just been born,” he added. “We are facing an existential threat and small islands will be the first to experience it.”
Express previously spoke to Steve Skelton, the Government's Group Director, Strategy and Innovation, about the new Carbon Neutral Roadmap...
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