The UK is on track to meet its first carbon budget, Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said today as the first ever annual emissions report under the carbon budgets system was presented to Parliament.
Under the Climate Change Act, the UK has to report annually to Parliament on progress in meeting its carbon budgets. The UK has to cut its emissions by at least 34% by 2020, and by at least 80% by 2050, below 1990 levels.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said; “Today’s emissions score card shows that the UK’s climate change policies are working and that we’re on track to meet our carbon targets. Since 1990, the UK’s emissions have been cut by 22%, which means we’ll more than meet the international commitments we made.
“We’re putting in place policies to make the low carbon transition by supporting investment in clean energy, in insulating homes and creating green jobs.”
The announcement follows statistics published earlier this month by SMMT that the average new car CO2 emissions fell by their biggest ever margin last year, according to the SMMT’s annual New Car CO2 Report.
It showed that the average new car sold in the UK in 2009 emitted just 149.5g/km of CO2, down 5.4% on the 2008 figure and 21.2% better than the 1997 base level. The rate of reduction was the best on record, three times the average rate achieved since data was first measured in 1997.
Click here to read the New Car CO2 Report.
