A series of new commitments from the government will guide the island’s climate change plan.

They have been detailed in the Council of Ministers’ response to Professor James Curran’s report on how the island can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Included in the commitments is for the island to have ’no less than 75%’ of our electricity coming from renewable sources by 2035.

The government has not said which technique of renewable energy it favours. It has just stated there are a ’number of possible sources of this energy and a wide range of future energy scenarios that need to be considered and prepared for’.

Other commitments have included the establishment of a climate change transformation programme, with a dedicated fund and a political steering board to develop and deliver the action plan.

To support this, the Treasury will make £10m available from capital and revenue funding.

The Council of Ministers has also committed to leading with ’large scale changes to reduce emissions’. This work will include retrofitting government buildings with better insulation, for example, and the introduction of low-emission vehicles, including buses.

Currently, the island’s largest contributor to emissions is domestic housing. The government said it would provide a wide range of incentives, both financial and non-financial to help people cut their homes’ output.

While this will look at new technology, in the short term, the focus will be on ’electrifying oil-based systems’.

The island’s status as the only whole nation to be a Unesco biosphere reserve will play its role in the Council of Ministers’ climate plan, as the government is committing to increase natural carbon capture through the planting of new trees and restoration of peatlands.

Other commitments including further work to increase active travel and low carbon transport, such as buses, working with the business sector to facilitate economic growth as the island makes changes, a Climate Bill being brought forward by June 2020 and creating an engagement campaign to make it clear that ’every member of our community will need to play their part’.

The government’s 10th commitment is for further research and analytical work to be carried out to ’understand the complexities and impact of Professor Curran’s report upon our economy, our environment and fairly across all sectors of our community’.