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According to official statistics, there has been a reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions in the United Kingdom. These emissions are caused primarily by primary energy consumption. If indirect emissions are accounted for, however, research suggests that UK emissions may have increased since 1990, due largely to manufacture of short-term consumer items overseas.
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Carbon dioxide (CO
2) and other greenhouse gases continue to drive global warming and ocean acidification. Under the Kyoto protocol the UK Government committed to reducing the levels of CO
2 and five other greenhouse gases by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012. These commitments have been surpassed and new targets set.
Current targets
The Climate Change Act 2008 set the country's emission reduction targets. The "legally binding" targets are a reduction of least 80% by 2050 (against the 1990 baseline).
It also mandates interim, 5-year budgets. The first three are as follows:
Budget 1 (2008–12): Total cap of 3018 million tonnes CO2 equivalent (22% below 1990 baseline)
Budget 2 (2013–17): 2782 MtCO2e (28% below baseline)
Budget 3 (2018–22): 2544 MtCO2e (34% below baseline)
The European Union has its own emissions target, to which the UK contributes. This currently stands at 20% by 2020 though this may be raised to 30%. This target helps to direct the European Union Emission Trading Scheme.
Criticism of targets
A report by the University College London Environment Institute (commissioned by Channel 4 for Dispatches Great Global Warming Swindle programme) suggested that current government policies would achieve a reduction in greenhouse gases of between 12 and 17% by 2020, compared to an implied target of up to 30%. The report states that the over-riding block to achieving 30% is that nearly all the government's policies are voluntary.
Such targets have also been criticised for ignoring the emissions embodied in imports, thereby attributing them to other - often developing - countries such as China. One report showed that Britain's imports are responsible for more overseas emissions than those of any other European country, and should add an extra 4.3 tonnes CO
2 to the average 9.7 per capita.
Past performance
The figures below are the annual figures for carbon dioxide emissions since 1990. They exclude carbon emissions from international aviation and international shipping, which together rose by 74.2% from 22.65 to 39.45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between 1990 and 2004. Reductions in methane emissions are largely due to a decline in the country's coal industry and to improved landfilling technologies.