Johnson to Announce This Week That UK Will Aim for 100% Renewable Energy by 2035, Reports Suggest

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce this week that all electricity in the United Kingdom will be coming from renewable sources by 2035, The Times reported on Monday.

The declaration will likely be made during a conference speech announcing an increase of state investments in renewable and nuclear energy, the newspaper wrote.

As noted in the report, the announcement will come at a time when the UK is faced with an unprecedented shortage of fuel and peak prices on gas. Johnson will say that the new investment plan in renewables will help the country achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 faster, according to the report.

"Dealing with the cost of electricity and energy [is one of] the long-term things that government has got to do. We've got to get back into nuclear, we've got to increase our clean energy generation. That will bring the cost of energy down and bring down the cost of transport", Johnson told The Times in a weekend interview.

In 2020, only 43% of the country's electricity was created by renewable energy sources, while 40% came out of gas, oil, and coal, and the remaining from nuclear power, according to the report.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives at The Midland Hotel ahead of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre in Manchester, on October 2, 2021

© AFP 2023 / BEN STANSALL

Johnson has announced that he wishes to increase Britain's offshore electricity by wind production from 10GW, which is enough to keep 10 million houses running, to 40 GW by the end of the decade. His long-term plan is to reach 60GW.

Glasgow will be hosting the COP 26 United Nations climate conference later this month and into early November. On par with the UK, the United States and Canada also promised to reach zero emissions from electricity by 2035.