EU sets goal to be 'climate neutral' by 2050

The European Union has urged government, businesses, citizens and regions to join it in an ambitious plan to cut emissions and make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.

EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in a press conference in Brussels today that block is kicking off a process to determine how Europe's energy and climate policy will evolve between now and 2050. 

He said member states will submit their draft national climate and energy



plans to the EU by the end of 2018. Canete said while more homes will be insulated and transport will be modernised, the key plank of any successful strategy will be to reduce fossil fuel use in energy production by 80 per cent by 2050.

Delegations from more than 200 countries are due in Poland next week for the latest COP24 climate summit, aimed at renewing and building on the Paris deal and limiting global warming.