Britain off course on domestic CO2 emissions targets

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Britain will miss its own target on cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions but will meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments, according to projections released on Monday by the government.

Estimates showed UK emissions of CO2—the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming—will be 13-percent below 1990 levels in 2010. The government wants a 20-percent cut.

“We are committed to our national targets. We shall succeed in our response to climate change. We cannot afford to fail,” said UK environment minister Elliot Morley in a statement.

Monday’s projections came as new data showed CO2 emissions in 2003 rose faster than previously expected. CO2 output in 2003 rose 2.2 percent from 2002. Provisional data had suggested a 1.5 percent increase.

The increase was largely due to power producers burning more coal, and a drop in net imports of power from mainland Europe.

“It is disappointing that there has been an increase in carbon dioxide emissions,” said Morley.

“This will inform the government’s current discussions on what more needs to be done between 2005 and 2010 to meet our more ambitious domestic targets.”

Emissions of all greenhouse gases in 2003 were 13.4 percent below 1990 levels. Britain’s Kyoto target is a 12.5-percent cut from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. 

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