A climate change report which sets a "net zero" emissions target for the UK by 2050 doesn't go far enough, says the Centre for Alternative Technology(CAT) near Machynlleth.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report released by government advisers last week said the UK could "end its contribution to global warming within 30 years" with the new targets, but climate breakdown campaigners have criticised them for being too soft.

The report was issued just as a week of climate protests which brought parts of London to a standstill and put the issue at the top of the news agenda came to a close.

CAT says it would like to see a commitment to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 at the latest, and called on the UK Government to "show global leadership, take responsibility for our historic emissions and help deliver climate justice by targeting an earlier date to reach zero."

“The proposals outlined by the Committee on Climate Change are clearly an improvement on previous targets, and we welcome many of the policy recommendations. However, climate change is the biggest threat that humanity has ever faced, and it requires us to push ourselves to do everything possible to rise to the challenge," said CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain research coordinator, Paul Allen.

“Given the urgency of the environmental crisis and the dire consequences if the world doesn’t reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with much of the reduction needed in the next 11 years, the UK has a global responsibility to be bold and ambitious."

“We can turn this around – but we need a radical climate emergency action plan, and we need to start now.”

The centre's "Zero Carbon Britain" project has spent ten years exploring how the United Kingdom could achieve a net zero emissions target, and earlier this year released their "Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future" report which discusses reducing energy demand from buildings and transport, increasing renewable energy supplies, and changing diets and ways of using land.