UK on course to meet Kyoto targets

The UK is on course to meet its Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions target, according to a report published today by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The team of international experts found that the UK had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 12.8% between 1990 and 2000, successfully decoupling economic growth from energy and emissions intensity. They concluded that the UK Climate Change Programme could allow emissions reductions significantly greater than those required by Kyoto, moving towards the domestic goal of a 20% reduction in CO2.

Attending the launch of the Third National Communication (3NC) report, Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, said: "Overall, this report presents a very positive assessment of our efforts and commitment and supports our own view that we are on track to meet our Kyoto target by a significant margin.

"Beyond this, we look forward to taking an active part in discussions on what further action is needed post-2012 to achieve the UNFCCC ultimate objective."

Under the UNFCCC, the UK is required to report regularly through National Communications on progress in the implementation of its international obligations. The team of international experts led by the UNFCCC conducted their in-country review of the UK's Third National Communication (3NC) in autumn last year. The findings of the in-country visit and the preceding desk review were published today.

The report also found that the UK achieved notable decreases for the three main greenhouse gases - 35% for N20, 33% for methane and 8% for CO2. It added that there was a high level of collaboration and harmonisation between industry, government and non-governmental organisations in tackling climate change.

The team also said that the UK is world leader in climate modelling through the Hadley Centre. The spatial scale of climate model projections has been improved through downscaling techniques to make model outputs more useful for impacts research.

(GMcG)