LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will miss its ambitious 2050 target for an emissions cut by decades unless it reassesses its course, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said on Friday.
Last year, Britain passed the Climate Change Act, aimed at cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 from the 1990 level to help mitigate global warming.
"A realistic date to achieve the 2050 TARGET (TGT.NY), based on current policy, is 2100 at the earliest -- some 50 years later than targeted," said the institution, the profession charged with delivery of needed technologies and infrastructure.
"By this time, climate changes in the world will create social, economic and environmental tensions which could spark regional conflict and possible loss of life."
Britain has launched a series of programs, including building tens of thousands of wind turbines in the sea to source about a third of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020 or developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
The government has also set out plans to speed up construction of nuclear plants, which should supply at least 30 percent of its electricity by 2030.
However, the report said it was not enough to focus the climate change only on mitigation -- efforts to cut carbon emissions from sectors of society, such as power generation.
"It is not too late to reassess our future course and implement a climate change battle plan," it said.
To undertake what it called a monumental task at a scale never seen before, the institution urged the integration of mitigation, adaptation and geo-engineering (MAG) into one unified and coherent policy.
While mitigation would remain the centerpiece, it was also necessary to adapt critical assets from flooding, overheating and seal level rises. "In some extreme cases, this would mean planned abandonment of settlements and existing infrastructure."
Geo-engineering -- technology to slow the global temperature rises by removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or reflecting solar radiation back into space -- should also be used to help escape disaster and buy time.
For energy production, the institution proposed building 16 nuclear power stations by 2030 and an additional four by 2050, instead of the current UK plan for nine plants.
It also suggested cutting gas use by 90 percent by 2050, more than halving coal use and equipping carbon capture and storage to all large scale fossil fuel plants, while expanding wind turbines to 27,000 units by 2030 and add further 13,000 by 2050.
(Reporting by Nao Nakanishi, editing by William Hardy)
