Carbon emissions target is just hot air

Government is set to miss its target to reduce carbon emissions by a wide margin because of the failure by ministers to implement clear policies on renewable energy, a report by research group Cambridge Econometrics (CE) has found.The draft Climate Change Bill set out a schedule to cut carbon emissions on 1990 levels by 26-32 per cent by 2020, in order to prevent dangerous levels of climate change. But CE claimed carbon levels would fall by just 15 per cent despite the UK comfortably meeting its Kyoto obligations of a 12.75 per cent reduction by 2010.“These forecasts provide a reality check to the rhetoric on climate change that is now standard government fare,” said Professor Paul Elkins, a senior CE consultant.“The goals for 2020 will not be achieved without stronger policies than have yet been put in place.”Carbon emissions have not decreased in any year in the UK since 2002, but are expected to decline by 1.75 per cent annually over the next five years. The report found that renewable energy, including offshore wind power, will account for just 5 per cent of the country’s total electricity production by 2010 – just half of the government’s 10 per cent target.