UK 'to miss greenhouse gas targets' » Environment » 24dash.com

The Government is set to fall short of its overall target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, according to a report out today.

The study, an expert reviewed audit by the UCL Environment Institute and commissioned by Channel 4's Dispatches, is the first comprehensive investigation into the impact of the Government's carbon-cutting policies across all Government departments mandated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Each of the four most important sectors - energy supply, business, transport and domestic use - have been reviewed.

The report written by Mark Maslin and a team of expert researchers at UCL, reveals that, at best, the Government's existing policies which are supposed to deliver a cut by 2020 in the UK's greenhouse gas emissions of 30% on 1990 levels will only deliver a reduction of between 12% and 17%.

The reasons for these failures of policy are due to the current voluntary nature of most of the policy.

Where policies are mandatory there is currently no enforcement, if current policies were mandatory and new, more prescriptive, future policies were developed then the audit believes the UK could still make significant cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, thus providing world leadership in combating climate change.

:: Dispatches: Greenwash is due to air at 8pm today.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne said: "It's time that the Government delivered on its targets, rather than just congratulating itself for setting them.

"The next Budget must tackle emissions from cars and planes through a green tax switch that shifts the tax burden from people on to pollution.

"The Government also has a gaping hole in its climate change strategy due to its failure to tackle emissions from homes and offices."

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