Archived press release

Uk climate progress even worse than expected

21 March 2005

Official figures released today show that UK efforts to tackle climate change in 2002 were a bigger disaster than expected [1], Friends of the Earth said today.

Provisional figures, released last year indicated that emissions of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - jumped 1.5% between 2002 and 2003. But official figures, released today, show that this was an underestimate - the real increase was 2.2% or 3.4 Million tons of carbon. To put this in context the whole of the renewables obligation, which should deliver 10% of our electricity from renewable sources in 2010, is expected to deliver a saving of only 2.5 MtC.

This latest sharp increase, which follows a similar large jump between 2000 and 2001, shows that the Government is failing to control UK carbon dioxide emissions. The big increases this decade are largely a result of power companies switching back to coal following rises in gas prices. If the UK is to meet its carbon dioxide reduction targets (20 per cent cut by 1010, based on 1990 levels) this failure to control emissions must be addressed in the Government's revised Climate Change Programme. The programme is currently being reviewed and is expected to be published later this year.

Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner Bryony Worthington said:

"Government failure to tackle climate is even worse than initially feared. These disturbing figures show that at the end of 2003 we were only 5.6% below 1990 carbon dioxide levels, yet Labour has promised a 20% reduction by the end of the decade. Unless the Government takes control of UK emissions and starts delivering substantial year on year reductions, this target will be impossible to reach. It's time to get a grip on climate change before it is too late."

1. www.defra.gov.uk/news/2005/050321a.htm

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Archived press release

Uk climate progress even worse than expected

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