UK on track to double Kyoto target

Environment Secretary David Miliband said that the final figures for 2005, released early February 2007, showed that the UK remained on track to go well beyond its Kyoto commitment. “These figures confirm that we are on track to meet and exceed our Kyoto target. Based on these figures, our greenhouse gas emissions are 15.3% below 1990 levels - 18.8% when the effect of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is taken into account. That's already better than our Kyoto commitment of 12.5%,” he said. “With emissions trading, we will almost double our Kyoto target, with an estimated 23.6% reduction in greenhouse gases on 1990 levels by 2010.” Miliband said that though the greenhouse gas figures continued the downward trend, the 2010 domestic goal, to cut CO2 emissions by 20% on 1990 levels, looked increasingly difficult to achieve. “The 2010 goal was always designed to be stretching. We are making definite progress towards it, and the projected 16.2% reduction is testimony to that progress,” he said. “However, the CO2 emission figures make it very clear that we need to do much more to cut emissions, and this is why the Climate Change Bill, announced in the Queen's Speech, will be essential to those efforts: providing a long-term framework with the necessary measures to reduce our emissions, including putting into statute our long-term goal to achieve a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.” The statistics show that the decrease in CO2 emissions between 2004 and 2005 was due mainly to a reduction in emissions from the domestic sector, down by 4.6%. Miliband said that while it would take several years to confirm whether there was a permanent downward trend in household CO2 emissions, it was a hopeful sign. The inventory figure for 2005 carbon dioxide emissions does not take into account the effect of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which was in its first year in 2005. “The effect of the very first year of the EU ETS is notable. Emissions trading is the most important and effective way of pricing carbon in the economy, which ensures that industry takes full account of the cost of carbon dioxide, and provides a financial incentive for industry to reduce emissions. Carbon trading will increasingly become a key tool in the international community's response to climate change and is already a vital part of the UK's policy response.”