Carbon neutrality in Portugal could become a reality in 2045 – Policy
The deputies are finalizing the Basic Climate Law before the dissolution of the Parliament and in this context they want to take a new step in the fight against climate change: anticipating by at least five years the target set to achieve carbon neutrality. In other words, ensure that the country is carbon neutral by 2045.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Climate Basic Law is still under discussion in the specialty (where the eight bills that must be worked on with a view to creating a common text), the PS presented a proposal for the Government to carry out the next three years a study to support the anticipation by five years of the carbon neutrality target for at least 2045.
The socialist proposal was approved this Wednesday by the Committee on Environment, Energy and Spatial Planning. If the vote is confirmed in the final global vote, this means that the Climate Basic Law will oblige the Government to review the carbon neutrality target that is currently included in the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050. Thus, in the final text of the Law from Bases do Clima, which reads that Portugal is committed “to achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2050”, it will then read that “the Government study, by 2025, the anticipation of the carbon neutrality target, with a view to a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2045 at the latest”.
Several countries have already anticipated this goal and there are Portuguese companies, such as Sonae, which are also doing so. The environmentalist association Zero had also highlighted that Portugal is able to anticipate carbon neutrality data, “making it closer to 2040”.
“If we have already anticipated the mechanism of coal power stations by 9 years, and if even ERSE [Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos] already anticipated by 5 years the achievement of renewable energy targets, it is time to reinforce our ambition. We want to anticipate carbon neutrality by at least 5 years and, for that, we want to have the proper scientific support”, defends the PS.