Britain ‘set to miss Kyoto targets’
The government is on course to miss its target to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol, environmental campaigners claim today.
Figures from Friends of the Earth suggest carbon dioxide emissions rose by 2.5 per cent in the first half of this year – making it likely that the UK will miss the international treaty’s goal of cutting emissions by 12.5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
The government has already published figures showing emissions rose again last year, and it has admitted it is likely to miss a self-imposed target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent on 1990 levels by the end of the decade.
However, the government insists emissions are being cut and Britain is on track to meet Kyoto targets, something disputed by campaign groups who are calling for tougher action on climate change.
Friends of the Earth is part of a coalition calling for legislation to be passed that would require year on year emissions cuts and for the prime minister to report regularly to parliament on the issue.
And it reiterated its call once again today as Tony Blair meets the leaders of India and China in Beijing. The issue of climate change is likely to be high on the agenda.
“The great failing at the heart of this government’s policy on climate change is now very clear,” said Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper.
“While Tony Blair has rightly recognised the scale of the problem he and his ministers have not taken the steps necessary to ensure that transport, energy and economic policies actually cut carbon emissions.
“Britain’s credibility as a leader on climate change is now in serious danger and urgent steps must be taken. The government must deliver year-on-year cuts in carbon dioxide emissions to meet its domestic and international obligations.
“If it doesn’t then the very positive influence that the UK has had at the global level will be lost.”
Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats’ environmental spokesman, said today’s figures showed the government must take tougher action at home if its efforts to tackle climate change on an international scale are to have any effect.
“It seems that the government’s attempts to tackle climate change are going backwards. They have abandoned a 20 per cent target for a cut in carbon emission in 2010 and now it looks like they are even going to miss the less ambitious Kyoto target,” he said.
“The government’s hand-ringing about climate change on the international stage is no substitute for real action that will cut carbon emissions at home.”
