to make sure people close the gap, they come forward with strong commitments and we see sector announcements as well, such as commitments to end coal and fossil fuels. and that the momentum is continued past cop because we need to keep going in this really critical decade. and talking of energy and sources of energy, that s the next question. hi, i m alistair. and my question is, boris johnson recently pledged that the uk would become the saudi arabia of wind. i is it realistic orjust bluster? and alistair with wordplay. with puns like that, you re welcome on newscast any day, any day of the of the week. isabella, alistair s question, how do you how do you take that on? thanks, alistair. that we need to triple renewable energy generation in the next ten years. so i think it s possible. and we ve already seen a lot of investment in offshore wind in the uk.
but in order to unlock that vision, we need to make sure we re doing a lot more in terms of making sure our grid infrastructure is fit for the renewable energy transition. we need to make sure that we re not subsidising or investing in fossil fuels, so that we can make sure we unlock the future for offshore wind. and we also need to make sure we re doing it in harmony with nature. so it s really important that we re putting those offshore wind farms in the best places to have the minimal impact on our nature. ijust wondered, one last question on all of this, doing the job that you do, are you optimistic about our future? ilike. yes, i am an optimistic person, and i do feel optimistic, i think, having worked in climate change for a long time now, the amount of noise that we re seeing, the amount of understanding from the general public, we ve actuallyjust done a poll with this climate calculator,
flights cost £300 million. and the budget documents said that it will mean 410,000 additional domestic flights. ijust don t think that s a good use of taxpayer money, to subsidise people making domestic flights. instead, we should be investing in our rail network, so that people have got a proper alternative. but also, we are not even on target to meet our 2035 carbon reduction targets. and so, every little measure that moves us in the wrong direction means we are even further away from meeting those carbon reduction targets. and i do find it astonishing that the week before the cop26 conference, that the government chooses to make this a flagship policy in their budget. what message does it send to the rest of the world about how seriously the hosts of cop26 take
and that is actually quite a clever slogan by alok sharma s team, because it means you could get to the end of cop, tot up all the commitments made by the countries to reduce their carbon emissions, not be at limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, but still have the potential to eventually get there. so, basically, you can t lose. because as long as it s not impossible, it still alive. right, let s have another question. hi, i mjason. what pressures will be put - on countries not doing enough to combat climate change? thanks, jason. that s another great question. i think the main thing for me is we need to make sure people realise it s not too late. the scientists have issued this code red for humanity, and it is the uk government s role, as the leaders of this summit, to make sure they are bringing countries around the country to close that gap. that will be really important in terms of the success of this summit, the role of the uk government as leaders of cop26,
to talk about with cop just around the corner. but i have to tell you something about adam. adam doesn t half love a good quiz. it s been something of a staple on newscast, and its other named cousins down the years, whether it has been brexit or elements of the pandemic, or whatever. a quiz, we are never more than a few weeks away from a quiz. and, right now, we are just moments away. seconds away! because we wanted to do a cop26 quiz, so we could learn more about this climate change conference, which i will be going to on sunday, by train. and we have roped in, as the quiz masters, some big fans of newscast. they are pupils from vyners school in west london, regular listeners might remember them because their teacher, mr beale, makes them listen to every addition of newscast. every single one? as an educational tool. deary me. which means they are probably listening to this, which is super meta. anyway, they ve got a whole load of questions about cop26. take it away.