Croatia Announces Goal To Cut Carbon Emissions 80 Percent By 2050

     Croatia has taken several important steps to fight climate change in brand new legislation. The nation has decided to take a carbon reduction rather than neutrality approach, aiming for an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050. This is not ambitious enough for the crisis at hand, but it is more ambitious action than the United States and China are currently taking and also sets the stage for improvement.

     Croatia is the first nation in the Balkans to set a target of this nature. The region was beleaguered by war and instability at the end of the Cold War that culminated in genocide and NATO intervention in the 1990s, and in many respects the region has yet to recover. As such, Eastern Europe as a whole relies heavily on coal as well as lignite, another disgusting fossil fuel referred to as "brown coal." The new legislation includes provisions for a total phaseout of coal by 2040; the EU wants coal gone by 2030, but this is an Eastern European nation saying goodbye to coal.

     The European Union recently unveiled draft motions to make the body, responsible for 10 percent of global carbon emissions, carbon neutral by 2050, and the COP 26 conference in Glasgow this November is likely to see nations around the world pledge the same goal. Croatia's target without the EU or UN is 80 percent; with some help, carbon neutrality by 2050 should not be a major imposition or a drastic jump for the country. 

     Coal and oil are dying, and renewable energy has a bright future globally. Thank you, Croatia, for taking the first steps, and we look forward to seeing a future of clean air and water, energy security, healthy communities, and so much more.