August 1, 2008 15:14 by
dereks
On the radio news this morning (Friday 1 August) there was the following report from Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst.
“The UK has been living under a delusion over its claim to be cutting greenhouse gases, according to two reports that will shake the climate change debate. They show that instead of falling since the 1990s, UK greenhouse emissions have been growing in line with the economy. This is dependent on emissions from aviation, shipping and imported goods being counted. At the moment they are excluded under the internationally-agreed system for carbon accounts. Both reports are from the respected Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) based at the University of York. They are a massive blow to the British government which claimed to have grasped the Holy Grail of climate policy - de-coupling economic growth from emissions growth.”
We made the same point some time ago in our 4th climate article ‘UK Emissions’ but sadly Roger Harrabin doesn't seem the read the Green Mole Forum website.
The SEI report will suggest that the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions are 49% higher than reported emissions. And a recent little-publicised report for the government department Defra showed that rather than going down 5% as ministers claimed, CO2 emissions have gone up 18% between 1992 and 2004 when all emissions are counted. The government's new Climate Change Committee may advise by the end of the year whether the government should include imported emissions in its CO2 inventory.
My view is that it must do this. There seems little point is setting greenhouse gas reduction targets if we do not report the UK’s emissions properly.