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Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Newsroom

How the UK will meet CO2 emissions targets

  • Published: Wednesday, 15 July 2009

The government has published its plan of how the UK will meet its target of cutting CO2 emissions by 34 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020. The plan includes pay-as-you-save home energy makeovers, helping homes produce their own clean energy and boosting electricity production from low carbon sources.

The low carbon economic revolution

Claim a grant for making home energy-efficiency improvements

The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan sets out how the UK will cut C02 emissions by more than a third from 1990 levels by 2020.

A 21 per cent reduction has already been achieved, equal to cutting all the emissions from four cities the size of London.

The ways in which the UK will further reduce CO2 emissions are set out in the following areas.

The power sector

Around 50 per cent of the yearly emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by making the energy mix more green. The government expects 40 per cent of the electricity used in 2020 to come from low carbon sources – 30 per cent from renewables, the rest from nuclear (including new build) and clean coal. 

New measures include:

  • speeding up planning decisions on renewable and low carbon energy while protecting environmental and local concerns
  • confirmation of the final shortlist of the schemes for the Severn Tidal Power feasibility study - three barrages and two lagoons
  • approval for the UK’s largest biomass power station on Teesside

Homes and communities

Around 15 per cent of the yearly emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by making homes more efficient and supporting small scale renewable energy. 

New measures include:

  • strengthening the energy regulator's powers to protect the consumer
  • ‘pay as you save’ pilots helping people make their house greener by using the savings made on bills to repay the upfront costs
  • a consultation on a new ‘clean energy cash-back’ scheme - people will be paid for generating their own electricity from low carbon sources
  • a new scheme to challenge people on a voluntary basis to save energy, through the Act on CO2 campaign
  • challenging 15 villages, towns or cities to pilot future green initiatives.

Transport system

Around 20 per cent of the yearly emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by cleaning up the way people in the UK travel. By 2050, road and rail transport will be largely decarbonised and aviation and shipping will have become more efficient.

New measures include:

  • detailing what kinds of electric and plug-in hybrid cars could qualify for the £2-5,000 incentives expected to apply from 2011

Farms and managing land and waste sustainably

Around five per cent of the yearly emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by reducing emissions from agriculture, land use and waste. 

New measures include:

  • support for anaerobic digestion, a technology that turns waste and manure into renewable energy
  • encouraging private funding for creating woodland
  • reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, and better capture of landfill emissions

Further information

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